Who?
by regertz
Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.
1. Chapter 1

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present…With help from an Immortal source.

Part I…

Dawn believes that it all happened at the Gap…The mall clothing chain store, not the great Crater of Sunnydale now such a bang-up tourist attraction since the Big One of 2003…After all she was there and the others weren't…Willow being with Kennedy and the other Slayers at Saks Fifth Avenue…Not that Willow Rosenberg turned her nose at "The Gap"…Not exactly…Sometime or other she'd picked up a blouse or scarf or something at the Sunnydale Mall outlet in the past…It just wasn't quite her fave choice…And she'd felt the Slayers deserved a treat after the Big One against the First…Though Buffy, her accounting instincts tempered in the fire of post-Mom budgets, had chosen restraint in her post-battle celebration…

Besides…As Dawn would note later…She was in mourning…However repressed…And "The Gap" was the kind of low-key place for someone in repressed mourning yet relishing a world-saving victory who needed some new, reasonably priced clothes…

"I really don't see why we couldn't head over to Saks..." Dawn noted... "I mean we just saved the world...Somebody owes us big..."

"I should go back..." Buffy put down the crimson blouse she'd stared at on entry and turned for the exit...

"Yeah...Dark red like that is really not one of your colors for primaries..." Dawn nodded..."Now maybe in a scarf...Buffy?..."

"I...I'll be back..." Buffy hurried off, passing through the exit...

"Hey, wait..." Dawn followed at normal human...Geesh I hate this place too, you know...

"Buffy, lets try...Buffy?..." She hurried after the Slayer...

"Giles?..." she called to the fast approaching Rupert Giles...Whom Buffy passed without a word...He stopping to stare after her... "Buffy?...Buffy, could you..."

Lord, she isn't off to join them, is she?...I said just a few things to tide you ladies over...The Council or what's left of it will never approve all this...

"Dawn?..." he turned to the junior Summers sister...Who had halted, frowning after her sis...There aren't any good shops down that way, damnit, Buf...

"Dawn, could you get your sister to please come back a moment...I need to speak with her..."

"Giles..." Xander came down the hall, shaking head... "The Borg have demolished and assimilated Sakes and are heading on for Florsheim..."

"What?...I distinctly said 'No shoes'...Dawn, send her over to Florsheim as soon as you can..." He hurried after the retreating Xander...

This is what comes of trying to set an example, sis...Dawn sighed...Still, there might be some remains left at Saks to plunder...And Buf must be planning to move down there eventually...

A devastation...An utter emptiness, devoid of man or beast...Though still vast expanses of rubble piled in the enormous center...Onlookers gaping at the view...

"I'm truly sorry about this..." Giles noted to the young lady who'd approached him, an assistant manger's badge on her suit... "The ladies have been on ...Umnn...A wilderness excursion for several weeks..."

"Quite so..." the young woman nodded... "I'm sure no worse than the group from the real estate conference last weekend..."

Wilderness excursion, eh?...Xander beaming slightly at the thought of himself as one-eyed Alex, manly wilderness guide to a bevy of helpless city damsels in...

"That's very kind of you..." Giles noted to the young woman...

"I think there's something alive in there..." Andrew, who'd been left behind to futilely monitor the destruction by Xander when the latter went to fetch Giles, indicated a small hill of debris...

"Whoa!..." Xander jumped back as a pile of what had been handbags moved...

"Rachel?..." Andrew reached to the young Slayer, triumphantly clutching a bag...

"Not at all..." the young woman replied to Giles... "You might wish to have your credit balance extended, though...The ladies mentioned Florsheim and inquired about the location of Neiman Marcus..."

"Yes?..."

Florsheim?...Rachel stared...And hurried off...

Hmmn...Giles sighed after the vanishing Slayer...And returned to his companion... "Manchester?..."

"Why, yes..." she smiled... "You're authentic, too, aren't you?...Birmingham, right?...The London tones overlay a bit..."

He nodded... "Can be difficult to tell these days...Some of the Yanks are catching on and cutting back on the fake nasal tones...Xander, Andrew?..."

"No, Giles...We couldn't stop them here...And Saks had security..." Xander noted...

"Florsheim, gentlemen...Do what you can and I'll join you shortly...Mr. Wells?..."

"Aye, aye, my Counselor..." Andrew gave a salute and headed off, Xander in tow...

"One has to be appreciate they mean well..." the lady continued... "Imitation and flattery, you know...And it does still seem to work with many of the American ladies...

"Yes..".Giles sighed... "I should take lessons...I must do it wrong..."

"No...Not at all..." she smiled... Brushing a brown twist of hair back...

"Olive...Knowles..." she offered a hand...

"Rupert Giles..."

"The fabulously wealthy if publicity-shunning billionaire...Or at least the leading government official, I hope?...Considering the likely charges today..." she noted, beaming...

"No, afraid not...Though my organization will...I pray to God in Heaven...Cover those charges..."

"Giles..." a shell-shocked Willow stumbled towards them...

"I tried...I really...Really...Tried..." she mumbled...Shaking now...

"Florsheim...?" Giles asked...

"It was horrible...Oh, Giles...The cries...The screams for help...They really need more staff there...The boxes...Giles...Xander called for me to help him...I panicked, ran...Giles, he and Andrew are still in there...I think..."

"Well, we'd best head over...Ms. Knowles..." a nod...

"I'll come along, if you don't mind..." she smiled to his look... "I don't think our store will be reopening for a day...Or two...And I'd been planning to head over to look for shoes after my shift..."

"Shoes..." Willow moaned... "Shoes...shoes..."

Sounds from a tottering pile of tossed petite blouses...Giles waving the others back..Dawn emerging from the depths, mavre blouse clutched firmly ...

"What shoes?..."

"Careful..." Giles noted as the group stood staring at a gigantic heap in the front of Florsheim's... "The slightest movement could..."

"Those flats are mine!..." Dawn raced for the pile...

Avalanche...

"Andrew?..." Giles stared at the battered figure now released from his imitation leather entombment...

"Mr. Giles...I beg to report we were unsuccessful..."

"Where's Xander?..." Willow looked around...

"Here..." Xander crept out of the center aisle, leading a group of terrorized clerks...

"Oh, Xander...I'm so...Say, what size are those?..." Willow eyed the pair of gold sandals with white trimmed straps he held in one hand... "Did you pick those up for me?...Aw, Xander..." she beamed... "Hey, where'd Kennedy and the other girls go?..." she looked about...

"They're in Neiman Marcus!..." a man screamed, running by...Others in panicked rout, following...

"Excuse me...'They' are twenty rather athletic young women?..." Giles called hastily...

"Neiman Marcus...!" the chilling reply, the man continuing his flight...

"Lets go!..." Dawn called...Willow turning...

"Ladies..." a battered-looking but stalwart middle-aged female clerk blocked their path... "Oh, right...Xander, I'll take those..." Willow reached for the pair of sandals...

Ummn...Xander?...

"Buffy, can I have..." Dawn paused, holding her flats up...

"Say?...Where is Buffy?..."

"Anya'd like these...I knew right away..." Xander said, sadly...Still holding the sandals...

"Yeah..." Willow nodded...Looking worriedly at Giles whose look urged caution...And a little forbearance...

"They're just what she'd want..." she patted Xander's arm... "He'll take 'em..." she nodded to the clerk...

Ex-fiancee, killed in the Sunnydale quake...Dawn explained in whisper to Ms. Knowles...

"I'm sorry...That's very sweet of her..."

"Yeah, it is...But he's not puttin' mine in her casket..."

"Does the Council really have enough left to cover all this?..." Willow eyed the bags now piled by the doorway at Neiman Marcus...

"Actually, assuming I'm able to threaten the wrath of our ladies upon them, I believe so..." Giles shook his head at the pile... "One of our chairmen forty years ago bought up a lot of the first public offering of Microsoft stock..." he explained...

"But...Microsoft wasn't even operating until...Ohhh..." Willow nodded at Giles' stare...

"A technical violation of our rules on time travel but strictly in the interests of Humanity, you understand..."

"Uh-huh...Must always have the port kept following at those council meetings..." Willow grinned...

"By the way..." she gave Giles a sidelong glance... "Nice thing you've picked up at Saks..." roguish look...

"Willow..."

"And Brit, too...You gonna ask her out when she comes out outta the store?...While your credit card still works?..."

"Willow...Enough..."

"Ah, come on, Giles...You've been livin' like a monk..."

"With twenty-six young women..." arch look...

"Now you're scaring me a little..." Willow stared...

"Sir...we've accounted for all but the Slayers last sent to patrol...And Ms. Summers..." Andrew, emerging from the store...Giles frowning at the bag hanging from his left hand...Xander behind him...Anya's sandals still clutched, Willow sadly noted...Ms. Knowles now visible at the nearest checkout...

"Mr. Giles..." One of the two Slayers sent out for the latest patrol watch was hurrying over...Her partner following close...

"Althea...Gong Li...Anything wrong?...?" Giles now caught sight of a police officer headed his way...

"Well, sir...The good news is that we found Ms. Summers..."

"Ms. Summers took the bus and crashed it two blocks from here and is on her way to the hospital in a coma..." Gong Li interrupted...

"I hate your cliched Western 'good news, bad news' scenarios..." she explained, glaring at Althea...

"Buffy...Speak to me..." Dawn spoke gently to the comatose Slayer...Now hooked to various pieces of hospital equipment...Breathing tube inserted, monitor blinking...

"Where the devil was she going?...And trying to drive standard?...Let alone a bus?..." Giles shook his head...Ms. Knowles, who'd joined the hospital-bound troop of Scoobies and Slayers, shaking her head in sympathy... "Does she do this sort of thing often...?"

"She said she had to go back..At the Gap..." Dawn noted, looking back to Giles from Buffy's bedside..." I thought she meant back to Saks...I mean, come on...It was 'The Gap'..." she explained to the group eyeing her...Willow, Xander, Kennedy, several other Slayers, apart from Giles and Ms. Knowles...Andrew dispatched for Slayer crowd control in the hallway...

"Back?...You don't suppose she meant Sunnydale?..." Giles asked...

"What?...To get something she left or didn't turn off at the house that no longer exists?...I don't think so..." Willow frowned...

"She was going back for William..." Xander, still holding memorial sandals, said quietly... "I wish I'd gone with her...Besides my being able to drive standard...I never should have left An there like that..."

"Xander..." several sympathetic sighs...Willow, various Slayers...

I claim those nice shoes when the odd one-eyed boy sleeps...Gong Li noted to another Slayer...

"William...?" Dawn blinked...

Just when I thought we were done with Spike at last...she sighed...Oh...A memory vision came to her...Sunnydale collapsing into the great Crater...

Right...We are...

Oh...Gee...She found herself blinking back tears...Noting them in the eyes of a number of the others...

"William?..." a cry from the hall...Followed by sobbing sounds...

"It's all right, Andy..." Dawn called...

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present…With help from an Immortal source.

Part II…

The hospital having restricted the group monitoring Buffy to four in her room...The rest in defensive mode lining the corridor outside where not off to complete the bankruptcy of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists in the hospital's cafeteria...

"She'll be ok, Dawn..." Willow noted to the steadfast junior Summers, still by Buffy's bedside after two days...

"Ok...?" Dawn frowned... "If you count being dead, this is her third coma...The neurologist's sure she's going to make the cover of the New England Medical Journal..."

"Headlining NEMJ?...Sweet..." Willow beamed..."Hey, I just made a medical..."

Ummn...Sorry...She eyed the staring others...Bad to make puns...Even the elusive medical variety...Right now...Sorry...

Xander managing to slip her a brief thumb's up...

Aw...

"We still have no clear idea as to why she left or where she was going..." Giles noted...Waving a hand to Willow's look...Hey, Xander...He, the one who sees all...

"I agree Xander's suggestion may be the correct one...But she may also have been contacted...Delusional...Even Dawn may be right about the First attempting another try..."

'Even Dawn'?...Dawn glared...

"Until she comes out of the coma and tells us why, we must assume there's some potential dangerous force at work here..." Giles continued... "She's got to be guarded night and day...

"Covered it, Giles..." Kennedy, to his left in chair, nodded... "Three shifts of five Slayers...Three in room, two in hall...In hospital...Three shifts of three patrolling the grounds..."

"Very good..." Giles nodded...

Kennedy giving Willow in her lap an arch look and high-five...

"Try to impress on them to look like normal visitors as much as possible..." he noted..."Andrew...?"

"Ms. Rosenberg and I conducted a full magics sweep of the perimeter at 15:00 hrs today, sir...No signs of demonic/magical activity..." formal nod to his partner in Kennedy's lap who returned nod...

"Fine...Please continue such sweeps periodically...Dawn...?"

"Hmmn?..." she blinked awake, mentally thumbed...Was I supposed to do something?...

"Go to the apartment with Willow, now...And go to bed...You've been here for two days...You must get some rest..."

"I'm fine..." she frowned...Blinking...

"We don't need two Summers girls in comas, Dawn...If anything happens whoever's on duty will contact you..."

"I'm fine..." she repeated... "You go home..."

"Actually, I intend to...Andrew will take over for me for the next shift...We're no good to her exhausted, Dawn...Now go home and rest and come back after you've slept and eaten something..."

"I can't leave her...She'll go..." she murmured... "Like...Mom...And Daddy...All gone...I..."

She blinked at the group... "I'm fine..."

"Come on, Dawn..." Willow got out of the chair... "We'll see if they have anything Buffy might like to chow on when she wakes up..."

"Dawn?..."

"Finally..." Giles sighed at the sleeping Dawn... "Xander, help Willow get her to the apartment...I'll be off myself...Call me at my cell if you need me..."

"Not heading straight to bed...?" Willow grinned... "As in...Got a date with a certain Brit store manager?..."

"As in...Shut up Willow and call me if you need me...Good night, people..." Giles told them...

A last, gentle pat of Buffy's still arm as he left...

."Nite, Giles..." Xander called...

"Lets get Sleeping Beauty here to bed..." Willow took one of Dawn's arms...Xander the other...

"See ya, babe..." she called to Kennedy who'd begun discussing patrol perimeters with Andrew...

"Love ya..." Kennedy called...Waving...

"Mom...Don't..." Dawn mumbled... "Don't go...Mom!..."

Willow eyed Xander...

"She'll be ok..." he nodded...

"I'm thinking about you..." she said, quietly...

"So...Ms. Summers is no better...?" Olive looked up from her plate...

"Neither worse nor better..." Giles fingered his glass of wine...

"I'm sorry...It must be so hard on you..."

"I've been very close to both the Summers girls for many years...There have been many times like this one...But..."

"It never gets easier..." she smiled wanly...

"No..."

"Still...You've saved the lives of these young women in a terrible crisis...Not a common achievement for a high school librarian..." she grinned...

"Please...I should be fortunate if Fox News doesn't charge me with perversion... 'What was a high school librarian doing in a bus with twenty-four young women during the Sunnydale disaster?'..."

"There were more than twenty-four...To start?..." Olive asked, cautiously...

"Yes..." he nodded...Rubbing fingers gently... "More..."

"It's the ones you don't save you remember..."

He stared at her wan face...

"I've done my share of rescue work in a few different places..." she replied to his inquiring look...

"One keeps asking oneself...Could I have saved them all?...Where did I fail the others?...What did I do wrong?...Even when nothing, it seems, could have been done..." she said quietly...

"I do..." he nodded...

"And sometimes...One's even had to sacrifice some to save others..." she went on...

"It's the nature of things..." she concluded...As he looked at her...

"She sacrificed someone to save the others, didn't she?..." she asked... "As you did..."

"Worse..." he shook his head... "I..." he paused... "Well..."

"I'm sorry...I had no right to press you like that..."

"No...You're very kind, Olive...I'm glad you do have some experience in such matters...I've needed to talk about...All of this...A little...Though, just right now..."

"I understand, Rupert..."

"It has been a comfort...You're being here...Thank you..." he smiled at her...

"I'm glad...I only wish I knew you all better and could be more so..."

"You've put your own life on hold the past few days...You couldn't have done more..."

"Well, you and your ladies gave me an unexpected holiday...I had to return the favor..." she smiled...

"Though it will be back to my routine on Monday..."

"Good...That you'll be able to return to it, I mean...I only wish I could do the same...And poor Dawn and Buffy as well...All of them..."

"But not all the girls are Sunnydalers...?" she asked... "Some were just visiting and can go home?...If one can just 'go home' after such an experience..."

"They can't...Not completely, I'm afraid..." he sighed...

"I'm ruining your quiet dinner with my talk..." Olive shook her head... "I'd meant to be light and bright...And here I am talking of difficult things I know too little of to help you with..."

"You do help..." he smiled faintly...

Two am...The Palmerston General Hospital where Buffy lay, still comatose in her room...

A figure in the hallway...Waiting...

"Ma'am...?" A Slayer on guard recognized the figure...The young woman...

"Hello..." Ms. Knowles nodded... "I came to let you know that Mr. Giles went to his room a little while ago...Ms. Rosenberg asked me to tell someone when he finally did get to bed..."

I live past the hospital...Up the next road, so I thought it was easiest to stop by...she explained... "I know Ms. Rosenberg was headed to sleep herself, poor thing...Please let her know...Good night..."

"Sure..." the Slayer, Maureen... Nodded...

Ms. Knowles proceeded past the nurses' station...Stopped by the elevator...And slipped into the nearest room when Maureen turned to check the adjoining hallway...And the few nurses on duty at this hour had either entered other rooms or were occupied at the station...

She careful emerged a moment later...In lab coat...Chart in hand...Slipping carefully up the hallway toward Buffy's room...

Now...If she'd heard the schedule correctly...

The Slayer by the door did not know her...She eyed the Slayer... "Are you a family member?..."

"Cousin..." Akira nodded...

"Dr. Williams...I want to check Ms. Summers' injuries, monitor, and review her meds...Excuse me..."

"Sure.." Akira pushed the door open...

"Stacy?...Doctor's visit..."

Stacy, smiling... "Hey doc..."

So far, so good...Olive thought...

"I'll just be a moment..." she eyed Stacy...And another girl, a tall brunette seated in a chair at Buffy's side...

"We have permission to stay with cousin Buffy...All night..." Stacy noted...

"That's fine...But I need to look at her...If you'd excuse me..." she drew the curtain...

"I don't like to leave cousin Buffy..." the seated girl said, holding Buffy's limp right hand firmly...

"Of course...That's fine..." Olive nodded... "Just let me have a look at her chart...Yes..."

She thumbed through the chart...

"That's odd..." she stared...

"What?..." Stacy asked...

"This is hardly a standard med for her condition..." Olive frowned at the chart... "Let me have a look at her monitor...Excuse me..." she moved to the bed... "I'll need to have a listen to her lungs..." she pulled out a stethoscope...Placing it under Buffy's nightgown onto her chest...

"Is anything wrong?..." the other girl asked...

"No, no...I just wonder about this med...Very unusual in her condition...I may need to call about it...Well, her vitals are good..."

An alarm blared...

Right on time...Olive beamed a brief moment...A worried look back when Stacy turned to her...

"What's that?..."

"I've no idea..." Olive shook her head... "Sounds like an intruder breaking in...It's not our usual emergency summons..."

"Sounds different from the alarms they used before..." the other brunette girl noted... "You better check quick, Stas...I'll stay here with the doc..."

"Just a mo...I'll be right back..." Stacy headed out...

"I'm sure it's nothing..." Olive told the brunette...Shining a crystal briefly which gave a flash...

"Everything is fine...The doctor checked Buffy and everything is fine..."

"Everything's fine..." the girl repeated...Blinking...

Olive turned to the still Buffy...

"Ms. Summers...Listen, if you can hear me...I represent the one branch of the Addams-Walthrop family surviving...The one branch, that is, that Cicely entrusted her secret to...Ms. Summers...If you are seeking justice for my ancestor, William...I can help you...I..."

The monitor went critical...Alarms sounding...

Stacy entered...Looking round...Hey!...

"Evey..." she turned to the seated brunette...Still a bit dazed...

"You..." she grabbed at Olive, pulling her away from the now writhing Slayer...

"It's fine...She's coming round, I think..." Olive tried... "Please let go of me so I can help her..."

"No..." Stacy maintained a grip... "You've done something..."

A team rushed in, Giles, Dawn, and Willow on their heels, trying to follow...

"Ms. Knowles?...What are you...Doctor, is she...?"

"Out!..." the team's lead doctor waved...Orderlies turning to move the six strangers out...Ms. Knowles having removed her coat on the team's entry...

They stood outside the room...Eyeing each other...Moving down the hall to a side hallway as the medical staff insistently urged them on, out of the way...Two more of the Slayers on duty hurrying down the hallway to them...

"She came in, claiming to be a doctor..." Stacy began... "She's done something to Evey..."

"The girl's fine, Rupert..." Olive shook her head... "I'm sorry to have had to..."

"What were you doing in that room?..." Giles asked...A cold tone...Ms. Knowles eyeing him silently...

"I'm ok..." Evey noted... "She flashed something on me...Sorry, Mr. Giles..."

"It's fine Evelyn...Fortunately, we were coming in...And the staff responded quickly..."

"I bet she's the First, Giles..." Dawn insisted... "She lured Buffy into driving standard..."

"Dawn, she's not the First..." Giles shook his head...

This is lookin' like a short romance...Willow sighed...Wait...How would Giles...?

Why, Giles, you little British...She grinned at his hard face...Dinner clearly went well last night...

Xander entered, Andrew following...Willow hurried to them...

"She's ok..." she told them... "The doc and guys are with her..."

Xander eyed her, then stared where Giles, a furious Dawn, and four angry Slayers were apparently giving nice Ms. Knowles the once-over...Andrew staring as well...

"We've been had guys..." Willow sighed...

Though that's not necessarily a total nix on romance for our team...

"So...Impersonating a doctor...Disabling a Slayer...You don't work for Saks, do you?...You were following us?..." Giles' voice harsh...

Olive sighed...Rupert...

"It must be very nice to live on a planet where people can leave their jobs to pursue ridiculous adventures at the drop of a hat, Rupert...But what assistant manager of a large retail chain could leave her destroyed store and abandon her life for no more reason than a romantic pursuit?..."

It seemed charming at the time...Willow sighed...Hey...You notice she didn't say 'For shoes'...she thought, eyeing Giles...She...Likes you...Risque click of tongue on teeth...

Giles pausing to glare Willow off...

Right...Attack on our Buf and our Evey...Anger the motivation...She turned to glare in turn at Olive...

"I borrowed a badge in the confusion at Saks in order to introduce myself to your group...Yes, I have been monitoring you since you left Sunnydale...As before, another relative, my cousin, kept track of you and your people there...At rather great cost to him, I should say..."

Hmmn...Well...Things did work out in the end with Jenny...Willow thought hopefully... Before she got brutally murdered...

"Why are you here?...And what are your intentions?..."

She hesitated...

"Must we use..."

"I am the direct descendant of William Soames Walthrop's sister, Amelia..." Ms. Knowles replied...

"William Who?...Who?..." Willow asked...

Oh-oh...Dawn blinked...

Oh...Andrew nodded... "That explains it..."

"What?..." Xander asked...

"Annals of the Undead:The Secret Files of the Royal Council online..." Andrew, thoughtful look... "Though, one can find useful if unsubstantiated material at WeLoveWilliamtheBloody online..."

"I see..." Ms. Knowles frowned... "So you people couldn't even be bothered to learn his true name...?"

"You're Spike's niece?..." Dawn stared...

Spike's...? Willow stared...

"We never use that name, Dawn...But of William Soames Walthrop, multiple generations removed...Yes..." Ms. Knowles nodded...

"Too k you a while to come after him..." Willow noted...

"While he was in the grip of his demon there was little we could do for him...Being ordinary humans...Except minimize the damage he did when possible, seek any information to help him we could obtain, and watch to see Cicely returned for him as she'd sworn to do..."

"So...There really is a Cicely..." Andrew began...

"Cicely?...Who's Cicely...?" Willow asked...

Crash...Cries...

There was now a commotion in the hospital corridor outside Buffy's room...Staff running, a call for Security...A wheelchair patient speeding their way, at an admirable rate...And over the cries and noise...A distinctively British-accented voice...

"Back, you!...What's happened to this place?...Fetch Dr. Barnes!...You there, girl!...Oh..Pardon me, sir...Get my clothes!...Now!..."

The crowd in the hallway thinned, Slayers at Giles' glance now moving to secure the area...Urging in their turn the doctors and staff back...

"Buffy?..." Dawn stared at the blonde figure waving stake...IV tube flapping from her arm...

"Who took my clothes?...What sort of fiendish opium den is this place?...You?..." directed to a startled nurse... "You can't be a matron, what are you?...Where the devil am I?...And how can you let these poor wretched women wander about here half-dressed?..." she waved at the Slayers and various staff...

"Buffy?..." Dawn stepped forward... "Buffy, it's me...Dawn..."

"Who?..." Buffy stared...

"Dawn, Buffy..."

"We've established that, you lewd little thing...Who?..." she sniffed... "Human, eh?..."

"Yeah, of course, Buffy...You're going to be..."

Lewd...?

"Who?..." Buffy glared...

First base...Xander and Willow thought...

"I've told you...I've told you fifty times...My name is Cicely Anne Walthrop...nee Addams...I entered this..." she looked round the waiting room they'd finally persuaded her to follow them to... "...a...Hospital on November 12th, 1880...And now..." she looked round again...

"Someone spoke to me...In that room..." she gave a narrow stare at the group about her...Giles, Willow, Dawn, Kennedy, Gong Li... "Told me she was a relative..." she eyed the group... "She's not here...Where is she?..."

"We thought it best Ms. Knowles not be involved in this first interview..." Giles explained...

"Bad idea, sir...Bring her at once..."

"Buffy..."

Glare... "Is that your pet rabbit or something you're addressing, sir...?"

"Very well...Miss Walthrop..."

"Mrs. Walthrop..." she sternly correctly...

Mrs?...Xander sighed to Willow...We are in it deep...Mrs?...

"Andy's getting all his material...Lets see what's there..." she noted...

"Mrs. Walthrop, then..." Giles, patiently... "You must let us evaluate this situation..."

"You...Mr...?" narrow look... "Sorry...Didn't catch it before..."

"Giles...Rupert Giles..."

"A pleasure, Mr. Giles...Under other, happier circumstances...Are you...?" she paused...

"A Watcher?..." tense tone...

"Yes, I am..." he nodded... "You know then of our Council...?"

She's not kidding, is she?...Dawn hissed to Willow...

Don't think so...Willow hissed back... "Andy says there's a Cicely legend associated with..."

"Be quiet, ladies..."Buffy frowned..."Know of, sir...?..Are you trying to deceive me?... I swear by God, sir..." harsh tone...

It's like a Kate Winslet/Cate Blanchett film in 3D...Xander noted to Andrew as they stood by the doorway... "Only with Kate/Cate a foot or so shorter..."

"I'm not, Mrs. Walthrop...How do you know of the Council?...Are you an antiquarian or...?"

Even if she's not crazy or a demon presence, it doesn't have to be...She could be his mom...Willow quietly noted to Dawn, hopefully...

"You're kidding..." Xander stared at Andrew...Who shook his head..."Only a legend...But they all have a basis in fact..."

"Guys...?" Willow came over...

"You are lying, Mr. Giles..." Buffy, cold voice... "Your eyes give you away, sir...You know very well who I am, how I know the Council...And why, if you really are a representative of that unholy order, I will kill you and all such present in the next ten minutes if you don't produce the young lady who spoke to me..."

If her tenth grade English teacher could only hear her now...If she hadn't had to stake his vamp, I mean...Willow hissed to Dawn and Xander...

If only I'd thought to recharge the battery on this video cam...Andrew sighed...

"Buffy..." Willow tried now... "Giles would never lie to..."

"Bring her...Now..." Buffy, icy stare...Glance to...

"Oh, God!..." she eyed Xander, seeing him clearly for the first time... "Henry!...Oh, Henry...Thank God, you're here..." she rose, shoving Giles to the side... "Henry, what the devil's going on?...Do you know?...Henry?!..." she paused, eyeing him as she stood in front of him, blanching a bit... "What's happened to your eye?!...And why are you wearing such clothes?..." Furious glare round…

"Who harmed my cousin?!"

Ummn...Xander blinked at her...

"Henry?..." she looked round, eyes narrowing... "If any one of you did something to my cousin...?" Frigid tone...

Cousin...Xander sighed...

Right...

Ummn...Sorry, An...Cousin...Cousin is good...

"You got it wrong, Buf..." Willow tried... "This is Xander, your friend...We don't know any Henry..."

"Sandler?..." Buffy repeated, after a fashion... "Sandler?..."

"Xander...From Alexander..." Willow explained..."And I'm..."

"Henry Alexander..." Buffy stated, cutting Willow's intro off...Questioning look?...No?...

"No, I think you got the wrong person, Buffy..." Xander shook his head... "I'm sorry..."

"Buffy..." Dawn began...

"Will someone put a decent outfit on that prating child?..." Buffy asked... "You people should be ashamed of yourselves...Not even the fiends of Hell would be so lewd...Look, girl...Dawn Buffy or whatever...Go outside and play and let us finish our talk..."

"Hey..."

"Best to do as she wishes for now, Dawn..." Giles noted...

"Absolutely..." Buffy nodded... "And speaking of what I wish...And have someone find you some decent clothing...!" she called to the departing, fuming Dawn...

"Very well..." Giles sighed... "But we stay to monitor your conversation..."

"Agreed..." Buffy nodded... "I've nothing, unlike you, Watcher, to keep secret..."

Willow eyed Xander...And Dawn, poking head in from hallway...

"How did you find me?..." Buffy asked Olive as they sat, chairs beside each other...Giles, Willow, and Xander standing... "Did William...Reach you, somehow?..."

"It was really just our usual surveillance, Cicely...We've awaited your return for a century..." Olive, eagerly...

Is it a good idea to keep letting her call Buffy, 'Cicely'...? Willow hissed to Giles... "I heard in Psych class you shouldn't encourage multiple personalities..."

Of course...Magics Malifactorum says, in the case of reincarnation...Giles put up a hand...Later, Willow...

Thank God Wells went off on some errand...

"When William's demon and Ms. Summers became opponents, we wondered..." Olive continued... "But he'd gotten involved with Slayers in the past...Apparently drawn to them, in spite of the danger..."

"Seeking me...Oh...I knew..." Buffy, anxiously..Hmmn...? "How many Slayers...?"

"Well, he killed two..."

"Two?...Permanently?...Or...?"

"So far as we know...They never rose...Mr. Giles?..." Olive looked up...Giles shaking his head...

A visible look of relief on Buffy's face... "Good...Ummn...That he never condemned the poor girls to a living death, I mean...And those were the only ones he met before...?" she glanced down at herself...

"Does she sound?..." Willow asked...

"Jealous...Oh, yeah..." Xander nodded...

Lord, I can make out my thighs distinctly...Buffy eyed her trouser-clad thighs...Blushing a bit...

Thank God at least they had an overcoat of some sort for me to wear over this flimsy thing...she eyed the white blouse she now wore...

"And Ms. Summers' record, filtering through to us, sounded worthy of you...Then William's demon seemed increasingly obsessed with you...With Ms. Summers..."

"He was?...Really?..." Buffy, pleased...

Hmmn...Wait...

"Mirror..." she looked round...

"That was a politely put order, people..." she frowned at the group...

"Buffy...That's not an absolutely swell idea..." Dawn tried...Having gradually managed to slip back in from the doorway...

"Swell?...How delightfully American...What is she doing back in here, still undressed?..." Buffy glared... "And I am waiting on that mirror..."

Willow pulled a small compact out, opening...

"Snuff?..." Buffy eyed the little box...

The red-haired wanton creature certainly dressed as the tales of opium addicts suggested...

"Cosmetics..." Willow explained...Buffy taking the box from her gingerly...

Arghh!...She stared at the image in horror... Hand to face...

"I'm dying...What?...What do I have?...It's consumption, isn't it?...Henry?..." she looked to Xander...

"Sorry...Sandler...Get me some food, anything at hand...You fiends!..." she turned on Giles... "Have you been starving me?..."

"Buffy..." Willow, gently... "That's your look...You worked hard to look like that..."

Well, actually...Thanks to Slayer physiology...she thought...

"Are you mad?...I'm skeletal...I look like one of the Undead..."

Which could explain a lot in the romance department...Dawn noted to herself...

"...And what have I been doing to this hair?...Food...Anything..." she barked at Xander...Giles nodding to him...

"Sorry, Henry...er, Sandler..." she called as he left the room... "Bit on the edge, you know...?"

"I'm really not like this most days..." she sighed to Willow...So...She eyed the mirror...

"William's demon was obsessed?...With this?..."

"Hey..." an offended Dawn took up the Summers' cause... "My sis is a beauty...Men...Well, ok...Unmen...Die for her...Literally..."

"Ha, ha, ha, mmpf, ha...For her?..." Buffy chuckled, handing back the mirror to Willow... "Well, it does explain why a demon nature might become obsessed...The girl's practically dead now..."

"Giles?..." Dawn turned to the stand-in parent...

"Dawn...I don't think this is an argument worth..."

"Listen, you..." she turned back to Buffy... "William loved her...Even with soul..."

Dawn...Giles sighed...

"Soul...?" Buffy stared... "You said...Soul?..." She looked at the others...

Oh-oh...Willow eyed Giles...

"Maybe I was speaking meteorologically..." Dawn tried...

"Metaphorically...And no, you weren't..." Buffy, eyeing the group...

Whoa...Metaphorically?...And no hint from Giles?...Willow stared...

I'm convinced...This is not Buffy...

"It's true, Cicely..." Olive nodded... "William regained his soul over a year ago...By his own efforts..."

Naturally...Buffy nodded...But beamed... Well...

"This explains it..." she smiled... "Obviously, I've been brought back to him in this emaciated form as God's apology for our unjust fate...You are very fortunate, Watcher..." she gave Giles a hard stare... "Now..." she leaned back...

"You can't take my sis' body..." Dawn glared...

"She vacated...I filled the vacuum...What little this body allowed..." Buffy shrugged...

"Nonsense..." Giles frowned... "We have no idea yet what you are...A memory fragment, a spirit, a demon, lying to us in your own turn, even an aberration of the mind...But what we will not do in any case is let you steal Buffy Summers' life...We must study what has happened here...And I warn you...You've seen that we have a large force of Slayers present..."

"Enough..." she waved a hand... "You're right...This matter requires careful study...Fine...Study away, Watcher...In the meantime..." she beamed again...

Lovely smile...Willow thought...But not Buffy's smile...

Xander entered, Andrew following...Both bearing Doublemeat Special bags...

"That smells divine...Please..." she reached for the bags... "But as I was saying...Oooh...Pomme frites...I love pomme frites..." she looked up...

Oh, God...Dawn sighed...Looking at Giles...

"...Where is my dear husband?..." blissfully innocent smile...

"...For the sake of your lives..." continued smile...Somewhat less innocent...

Even Olive trying hard to look anywhere else...

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present…With help from an Immortal source.

Part III…

"Maybe she's back in the coma..." Andrew suggested...

"It's been nearly an hour since Ms. Knowles told her..." he noted...Eyeing the still figure of Buffy, still seated in waiting room chair, in heavy overcoat...Staring silently...

"I'm really sorry Buffy..." Willow made her fifty-four attempt..."We all felt bad when William...Passed on..." she continued...She eyed ...

You're the niece, removed...Say something...That doesn't involve vengeance, please...

"But you did nothing to save him..." Buffy suddenly spoke...Voice calm...And a bit more menacing for that...

Hey...She's back...Xander tried a friendly tease...Buffy's icy stare quickly nipping that approach...

"He wanted to save you...And the world...He was our Champion..." Willow replied... "We were all proud of..."

"Were you proud of him, Watcher?..." Buffy looked over at Giles...

"Cicely..." Olive began... "Quiet..." Buffy waved her off...

"I asked you a question, Watcher..." she stared at Giles...Who returned her stare firmly...

"I barely knew him, Mrs. Walthrop..." he replied... "The creature I had known until very recently being a fiend from Hell who murdered thousands, perhaps tens of thousands...If I could have I would have destroyed him long ago..."

Not helping here, Giles...Xander sighed...

"And...After he retrieved his soul...No help from you..."

"None...I wouldn't have known how if he had asked it of me...Except by inflicting a worse suffering on him..."

"And after his soul returned...?"

"Buffy...Giles spared him...Even when the chip kept him unable to kill people..." Dawn cut in...

"No..." Giles shook his head... "It's best to be honest about this...That was solely your...Buffy's...Decision..."

"After your husband...If that is so...Retrieved his soul...I was cautious...I warned Buffy that even if the soul was back, William remained linked to Hell...A danger to her...A distraction and a potential tool of Hell...Particularly with the First Evil in play..."

"You left an innocent man to suffer..." she accused him...

"The Council's position on vampires and claims of their restoration or redemption is quite clear...I..."

."...Stamp the death warrants?..."

"Buffy...We've told you..." Willow cut in... "Giles didn't kill William...He died fighting for you and Humanity...You should be proud of..."

"Damn you...Who are you to talk to me like that?..." Buffy glared, looking Willow over... "I don't know you...What is your name, anyway?..."

"I'm your best friend, Willow Rosenberg..."

"Really?...Best friend, eh?..."

"Yeah..."

"Well... 'Best friend'...If you don't want my stake in your chest...You'd best keep quiet for now..."

"Buffy..." Xander began...

"Human or no, I can kill you all without a moment's remorse..." she noted... "Multiple Slayers or no..."

"That would be a poor ending to your story, Cicely..." Giles replied... "Your husband safe in Heaven, his salvation accomplished...You in Hell for murders committed by your own human soul...Condemned forever..."

She stared a moment...

"He can't be...Gone..." she said, quietly... "Without me...?"...Not a tear, Willow noted...

She turned to Ms. Knowles... "You mentioned..."she paused... "Justice...For William..."

Olive nodded...

"...And you refer to..."

"The restoration of his reputation...And the exposure of his and your murderers..." Olive replied...A cool glance Giles' way...

"I know who murdered my husband..." Buffy said coldly... "Though myself?...I..."

"Yes...And by the same agents, we believe..."

She stood up... "You have proof..." her voice calm...

"We do...Including an eyewitness..."

Willow eyed Xander...Murdered?...

Xander eyed Willow...Eyewitness...?

Both eyed Giles whose face was inscrutable...

Oh...My...God...Willow blinked...

She said he was lying...And...

"What...Eyewitness...?" Buffy asked...Pulling her coat tighter...Can someone show me how this dratted thing works?, she flapped the zipper...Dawn moving to assist...

"You know...Knew him...The Immortal..." Olive replied...

"Henri?..." she asked...A wan smile... "He survived?..."

And followed the path of redemption you set him on..." Ms. Knowles nodded...

"Where is he?...Can I...?"

"He's quite famous these days...Under various titles...He lives in Italy now, near Rome..."

"She has some pal in Italy she hasn't seen in 125 years?...And we're all dogmeat?..."

Willow hissed to Xander...

"Exceptin' maybe you...'Henry'...Hey, you think?..."

"This Henry guy...Does he look like Xander?..." Willow spoke up...

"Henri...French..." Buffy snapped... "Henry Foxcroft was my cousin...Henri was a good friend..."

"Who never forgot your kindness or his promise to you..." Olive noted... "He's helped for years to keep an eye on William...And alerted us to your possible return..."

"I'll go to see him as soon as I'm able...If I must steal to do it..." Buffy nodded... "Now, we were discussing justice..." She turned to Giles...

"I want some answers from you, Watcher...You knew who I was when I identified myself...You know what your Council did to me and my husband..."

Hmmn?...Willow and Dawn stared...

"I would be entirely justified in killing you...To begin with..." she noted...

"Andy..." Xander moved closer to the door...Where Andrew had gone to make sure the Slayers were in force at hand...

"But...You are only a tool...And my host or whatever 'Buffy' is..." she eyed the coat and still rather shockingly exposed legs... "...Apparently still was close to you, poor fool...And you're quite right, I've no desire to endanger my soul at this time for a petty revenge...So for now, after I've eaten...I'll settle for those answers...Some decent clothes...And..." her voice now faltered a bit...

"I...Want to see where my husband died..."

Tall order, Buf...Willow thought...

The rather odd but delicious, Buffy'd noted, breakfast of sorts over, Giles had managed to persuade her to stay in her room and receive a full exam in the morning...It being rather dark still to go running back to destroyed Sunnydale even if a vehicle could be obtained...

To which she'd consented on condition her 'niece-in-law' of sorts...The one person she seemed willing to trust, Willow noted sadly...The one who lied to and betrayed us...Stayed in the room with her to alert her to any untoward practices...

"Untoward practices"...Dawn blinked...

"Brit for 'something up our sleeves, pull a fast one'..." Willow explained... "She doesn't trust us..."

"So much for having the docs drug her..." Dawn frowned... "Come on, it's what we were gonna do..." she eyed Willow...

"Maybe still if we could get her to let them put the IV back in..." she went on...

"Don't think Ms. Knowles will let her let them..." Willow shook her head...

"William's niece...Tracking us all these years..." Dawn sighed... "So much for Giles' love life boost..."

One never knows...Willow thought...

"Course he did carry on with Ms. Calendar even after the gypsy thing..." Dawn reflected... "But this one is pretty rough..."

"Ladies..." Giles emerged from Buffy's hospital room... "She wants you both...And you, Xander..."

Hey...Willow grinned...Now that's more like it...

Unless she wants to kill us...Not needing us as much as Giles right now...

"Hello..." Buffy addressed them rather formally...Sitting on the edge of her bed, heavy sweater and long skirt provided by one of the Slayers of more conservative culture...

"I'd like to apologize for my earlier behavior...I understand you all were close to...Me...Or Buffy...I wasn't sure where I'd arrived...I had to assume I was among enemies..."

"No prob..." Dawn nodded...

"Thank you..." slight frown at Dawn's continued lewd style of dress...

"Mr. Giles...?" she turned to Giles...Who rose...

"Mrs. Walthrop has asked that I confirm some of her statements..." he paused...

"It is true I had heard through the Council of Cicely...And of her connection to William..."

Council'd keep tabs on William the Bloody and his family, natch...Willow nodded...

"It is true the Council had a hand in the events that led to William's transformation...And later Cicely's death, both in 1880..."

"So that's why..." Dawn eyed Buffy... "I'm sorry...That's awful...But why would the Council have wanted William a vamp?...Or you dead?...And you know, Giles would never have..."

"Please..." Buffy raised a hand...

Hmmn...You know...Willow thought...

Cicely sure seems to know a lot about the Slayer...

"Oh-oh..." Xander said... "Wil...I think..."

"I'd like you all to meet Cicely Addams Walthrop...The greatest Slayer of all time until Buffy..." Giles said quietly...

Oh...Willow nodded...

Yikes..

Buffy eyed Giles...

"And...?" she began...

"...And the greatest dread of the Council since we arranged her death in 1880...I have lied to you all...Or at least, concealed things from you and Buffy..." he said simply...

Giles...Willow stared...

"I was warned that William might appear and try to contact Buffy long before he came to Sunnydale...Though the true reasons were not immediately given to me...I was led to believe he would make Buffy his focus, given his propensity for attacking Slayers...But I was also warned...Ordered...To leave him to her dealing...Not to try to eliminate him unless he seemed poised to defeat Buffy and possibly transform her...Or..."

"Or..." Buffy, coldly...

"If he regained his soul..." Giles finished, not looking at any of them...

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present…With help from an Immortal source.

Part IV…

"So..." Dawn eyed Giles as she, he, Willow, Xander, Andrew, and two Slayers, assigned by Andrew as Councilor bodyguards over Giles' protests...Buffy seeming a bit mercurial just now, despite her promise of forbearance...Sat in the waiting room...The hospital staff, barely restored to a semblance of order, still eyeing them suspiciously from time to time...

Buffy currently sleeping with her 'niece-in-law' of sorts, Ms. Olive Knowles in careful attendance...

"You never told Buffy...Or us..."

"No...And I've told you why..." Giles said, quietly...

"It wasn't the Council's decision to make..." Dawn noted...

"There was no way to be sure there was any connection of her and William until..."

"...Until she proved it...Giles..." Xander sighed... "You should've told us...At least after Spike got the soul back..."

"And perhaps lose Buffy to Cicely?...In the midst of her battle with the First...As we seem to be now..." Giles noted...

"Is that all you cared about?... Beating the First?..." Dawn glared... "If you'd told Buffy...God...She would've freaked, maybe...But...It wouldn't have come on her like this..."

"Have we lost her?..." Willow asked... "Is Cicely here for good?..."

"It's not right, even if I feel bad for her..." Dawn shook her head... "She can't have Buffy..."

"What if she is Buffy...?" Xander asked...

They looked at him...

"Buffy might be Cicely...Just no memory till now..."

"But she doesn't remember Buffy...At all..." Dawn pointed out... "Not even me..."

"Well, Dawn..." Willow began...

Xander waving a bit...Wil...

"I'm only a fake memory, you mean?..." Dawn frowned... "And now I'm gone..."

"Sorry..."

"Well, I haven't dissolved yet...And you all remember me..."

"Right?..." she eyed them...

Sure, yeah...Our lil' Dawny...Willow and Xander nodded hastily...

"So she oughta...Buffy's been pushed out...For now...And we gotta get her back..."

"We could try an exorcism..." Willow suggested... "Though I kinda feel bad, doing it to Cicely..."

"We mustn't proceed without more information...She's agreed to let us study her...I think we should not try anything at this moment without that study..." Giles... "After all, it is quite possible the cause is a physical one..."

"Konked on the head, she's Cicely..." Xander nodded... "I've seen that one many times on TV..."

"So...We konk once more and she's Buffy..." Dawn insisted...

"We 'konk' as you put it without knowing what we're doing and we put her in a coma for good...Or more likely, turn her completely against us..." Giles noted...

"For now, she's willing to cooperate to some extent...Lets see what we can learn..." he said...

All right?...he eyed their faces...Vague, hesitant nods...

"Giles...Don't take this wrong..." Willow looked at him... "But...Can we trust you and the Council...?"

He looked at her and the others, whose faces, no longer vague, eyed him carefully...Saying nothing...

"I know this must be hard for you..." Buffy looked at Dawn now beside her in the cargo van Giles had rented...Just barely large enough in the empty rear to handle the entire group...Now uncomfortably seated on cushions...

"The bus was easier on the derriere...But I'll live..."

"I mean...Me...And your sister being...Gone..."

"Yeah...But she's a fighter...She'll be back..."

"I didn't force her out, Miss Summers...You should know that..."

"Yeah...Well...You may as well know...I'm not really Buffy's sister..."

"Oh...?"

"I'm an energy key...A goddess'...Some monks locked me up in human form and used Buffy in some way as the template...And stuffed fake memories of me in her and all of us...So I'm not really Buffy's sister..."

"I'm...Sorry...A goddess, you say?..."

"Dead...Buffy took her out..."

"Nice...I beat a minor deity once...A male...Fellow somewhat like Thor, the Norse god..."

"The one with the hammer?..."

"Yes...You people still read mythology...?"

"I guess...Everybody knows Thor...He used to have his own comic strip..."

"Comic...Strip?..." Buffy asked...

"I'll show you when we hit a town..."

"Are you cold?...Perhaps you should zip your zipper thing up..." Buffy eyed the coat she'd managed to get the girl to put on...

"Buffy, it's not cold...And I'm dressed fine for nowadays...Better than a lot of girls I know..."

"Trollops?..." she asked...

"Well...A couple are headed that way..." Dawn grinned faintly..."Come on, it must be nice not to wear a corset, right?..."

"So long as I eat a quarter of a single meal a day and wretch that up..." Buffy frowned... "What kind of fiend invented this barbaric practice of trying to maintain the body weight of a dying infant..."

"Gay fashion designers...Well, you've never had to worry...What with the Slayer energy and all..."

"Not very happy fashion designers if I catch up to them...I hope you eat...Ummn...Dawn..."

"Thanks...For using the name...Yeah, I chow pretty well...Still got the teenage metabolism..."

"Oh...Nice...But you said you were not my...Buffy's...Sister...In fact?..."

"Made from her to be her sister...Artificial, I guess..."

"Forgive me...You sound more like a daughter..."

"Buffy and I try to avoid thinking like that...And I remember my mom...Her mom..."

"I see...Well, I shall try to think of you as my new sister...Is that all right?...I never had a sister..."

"Sure...Till Buffy comes back..."

"Certainly..."

"I'm really sorry about Spike...William..."

"Not as much as I..." Buffy sighed... "But if his soul was free at the end...Perhaps that's as much as I could have done for him...No..." she suddenly shook her head...

"We deserved to have a life...Together..."

And if there is a God in Heaven...Whatever the price...

"It's rough...Xander lost Anya then too...Though things hadn't worked out so well for them..."

"Sandler had a wife...?"

"Ex-fiancee...The marriage never quite came off..." she yawned...

"You've been up all night...You should rest..." Buffy told her...

"Yeah, a little...You won't do anything stupid like trying to hop out of the van?...Or kill everybody while I'm out?..."

"No...I promise..."Buffy put up a hand...

"Talk to Willow...She misses you...And it hurts that you've been keepin' with Ms. Knowles all the time..." Dawn noted quietly...

"I'll try...Go to sleep..."

"Is she singing a lullaby?..." Xander eyed Willow as they watched Buffy stroke Dawn's hair, singing softly to her...

"Anything's better than the threats and clothing commentary...Even Buffy's singing..." Willow noted...

"Yeah...But she actually sounds good..."

"Yeah...Oh...Our Buffy is gone, Xander...Gone..." he patted her, indicating for Kennedy to take her...

"Sandler?..." Buffy had left Dawn and come over...

"Yeah..." Xander, resigned...

"I'm sorry to hear from Dawn that you lost someone...The other day..."

"Thanks..." he nodded...

"She must have been very special..."

"Yeah..."

"I'm truly sorry I don't remember her..."

"Not your fault...No prob..."

"You look so much like my Henry..." she sat by him.. "I hope that doesn't bother you...He was like a brother to me all my life...Even after the Council turned on me, I still had him..."

"I'm glad..."

Brother...Condemned throughout time I guess...he sighed...

Sorry, An...I didn't mean for it to come out that way...

"I didn't mean to frighten the others earlier...Though... "

"I understand...Lose your guy to Drusilla...Wake up a century later in the middle of a bunch of Slayers and co...Freak city..."

"Yes...'Freak city'...Hmmn..." eyes narrowed...

"You know of Drusilla...?" she asked, trying to keep it light...

"We've met...She's the only vamp Buffy never quite beat in a straight fight..."

Damn...

Though on the other hand...

"And you know..."

"LA...Los Angeles...Last we heard, anyway...Wait...Buffy, you're not going after her?...Not now, anyway..."

"I'm going to see my husband's grave...Then we'll see..."

"You're in no shape to meet Dru...She'd kill you..."

"No...She won't...But you're right...I will wait until the time is right..."

"She's not to blame, you know...Her soul..."

"I only blame the demon...I've no interest in the soul...But it's kind of you to be concerned...Henry was always trying to keep me from getting in over my depth, poor fellow...I loved him dearly for it..."

"Well...Maybe there's always one of us to look out for you..." he smiled...

"Good...Pardon me, may I ask..."

"The First's minion Caleb...A little nasty joke on his part...But I'm ok with it..."

"Oh...Did Buffy...?"

"Oh, yeah..."

"Good for her...I'd have been glad to take of it myself, though, I want you to know..."

"Thanks...Buffy..."

"Would you mind very much...Calling me Cicely?...From you it sounds right..."

He hesitated... "I don't think Dawn would want me to..."

"I understand..." she nodded... "I meant no disrespect to your friend..."

"Hey guys..." Willow had come over... "Ok if I...?"

"Certainly..." Buffy nodded... "Willow..." she spoke carefully...

"Yeah...Thanks..."

"Might I ask...Miss Rosenberg...?"

"Yeah?..."

"Are you of the Hebrew faith...?"

"What are all those people doing...?" Buffy eyed the crowd by a photo stand... "Get your phote taken at the Great Sunnydale Crater" sign prominent on the stand...

"They're getting their photos...Photographs taken at the Crater..." Willow braced for another anti-American comment... Which Buffy seemed to have no end of these days... "Macabre, I know..."

Buffy shrugged..."People used to do that all the time in my day...Anything tragic or on a colossal scale draws them in...And if both combine..."

Andrew came to them, photo in hand...

"Very nice, Mr. Wells..." Buffy nodded at the image... "Perhaps I should have one done as well...To remember this place by..." she turned to look at the Crater from where they stood behind a newly constructed guard rail...

"Where was...?"

"Sunnydale was that way..." Willow pointed... "And the Hellmouth just up there...It was in our old high school...And the idiots on the Town Council rebuilt it right over the Mouth..."

"Destiny..." Buffy said quietly... "As with us..."

Dawn came over, bearing Diet Coke...Eyeing Willow...

No signs of suicide being painless as yet...Willow's look saying...

"I'm sorry I don't have anything of his..." Dawn sighed...

"Oh, wait..." she reached in her pockets...Yeah...

"He gave me this..." she handed it to Buffy...Who held the ticket gently...

"From a game...Soccer...In England...His favorite team, Manchester, beat the other guys by two...He always said...It was worth being Undead to..." Dawn teared up a little...

"Thank you..." Buffy embraced her... "I know you cared for him..."

"I'm sorry..." Dawn sobbed... "I should have told him I forgave him before...I shoulda been nicer after he got the soul...I'm sorry...William..."

Xander came to them...Willow crying softly now...

"I'm glad you made us come...Cicely..." he eyed Buffy... "We need to come back..."

He looked out over the Crater... "An...I'm so sorry I wasn't there...Forgive me...You know I loved you..." Willow patting him...

"Will..." he called... "I'm sorry we weren't better friends at the end...But maybe we were...I don't know...Anyway, you did good...Thanks, pal..."

"Yeah..." Willow called... "We miss you, Will...Thanks..."

They paused...Buffy shook her head...

"I can't say goodbye...But thank you for showing me you all did care...And for letting me come...And know..." she smiled...

"...that his spirit's not gone out of this world..." she eyed them...

From the van where he stood, waiting with several Slayers and Ms. Knowles, Andrew making a rather needless report, Giles watched...Expressionless...

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present…With help from an Immortal source.

Part V…

"You can't be serious..." Giles looked at the group facing him in his motel room...Newly rechristened as the Great Crater Motel...Willow, Kennedy, Xander, Dawn, several Slayers...Buffy and Ms. Knowles to one side...

Andrew holding an intermediate position between his friends and his Councilor...A bit uncertain...

"You would let Buffy go off to Rome alone in her present state...To meet with the Immortal, a creature..."

"Not alone...We'll all go for the first meeting...Size him up..." Willow noted...

"Not at Council expense, you won't...Have you all lost your minds?...Or forgotten Buffy, so quickly..."

"No one's forgot Buffy, Giles..." Willow frowned... "You were the one who wanted us to study the situation with her...We'll be doing that..."

"Here...Or in England...Where study can be properly done..." Giles insisted... "To let her go galavanting off to Rome...On the word of someone who has lied to us from the beginning..."

Ms. Knowles not flinching...Willow however...

Damn...Still, it took a while with Jenny...

"If we're to discuss lies, Rupert..." Buffy eyed him...

"So we abandon all real hope of retrieving Buffy...?" he turned to Willow... "Willow, Dawn...Cicely may have won your friendship but consider her motives in doing so..."

"Like you won ours...?" Dawn asked...

"None of you...Even Willow...Is qualified to deal with Cicely...What information can you hope to gain from this?..."

"We'll hear the Immortal out...Make sure he's as trustworthy as even the Council's claimed in the past..." Willow returned Giles' steady stare... "And let Buffy decide what to do next..."

"She'll stay in touch with us and you..." Xander pointed out... "And we can't stop her if she chooses to leave now...Alone..."

"Quite so...Thank you, Sandler..." Buffy hesitated over the word... "Guys..." and continued... "Rupert, I will go on my own if I must...If your goal really is to retrieve Miss Summers, your best chance to accomplish it is to learn why and how she left, if she did...And where she is...And you will only accomplish that by keeping in contact with me..."

"Come to England first...Let us review your condition..." Giles insisted... "The Council is reforming rapidly...They can help you..."

"I've had their brand of 'help', thank you...I prefer to operate on my own..As did, my friends tell me, your Miss Summers..."

"So..." he eyed the group... "You've chosen..."

"No one has chosen any side, Giles..." Willow shook her head... "We want what's best for Buffy...And it seems to us, giving her some space and a chance to find out about what's happened is the way to do that..."

"You can maintain surveillance on me if you wish..." Buffy noted... "Mr. Wells could do that quite effectively, I'm sure...And with least offense to me..."

Oh...Andrew perked...

"And I'm not letting her out of my sight..." Dawn noted...

"And how would you even live in Rome?..."

"Frankly...Your Council can't begin to repay what you owe me...And my new friends...Even if you hadn't killed my husband and me...But..." Buffy smiled at Olive...

"The Walthrop family did very well in armaments and other things after William's death, Rupert..." Olive nodded... "A large part of that has been kept in trust for William or Cicely should either return to claim it...I can assure you the family will be quite willing to see those funds released..."

"My brother-in-law, Philip...Will always said he had a good head on his shoulders..." Buffy happily noted...

"I see...Well, short of ordering those Slayers loyal to their duty and to Buffy's memory to fight it out, I suppose there's nothing to be done...You promise you'll stay in contact...?" he eyed Buffy...

"With my dear Watcher?...For my own protection, I wouldn't have it any other way..." she beamed...

Willow nudged...

"Sorry...My best friend Willow wanted me to close these negotiations on a pleasant note...I'm willing to offer the Council a chance to redeem itself...And to trust in you...If you'll let me work this out and not interfere..."

"Very well...But I still don't see what you hope to accomplish with the help of the Immortal...?"

"Probably nothing...But he is an old friend...And each step in the past is a chance for Buffy to find her way back, correct?...And there are still questions to be asked and answers sought..."

"We could help you find them...And frankly, Mrs. Walthrop...We need you...The new Slayers need you..."

"And with Mr. Wells in constant communication between us..." Andrew stiffening in silent acceptance of the heavy burden...Ours not to question why...Ours but to... "You could...I won't refuse any information or assistance you offer if I deem it useful and in my interests to accept...As for my side...The others and I will pass on everything I learn, I'll even offer you my services, given the current disorder in your affairs...I'll do what I can to help train the other ladies, indeed I'll need to come to England in any case once I speak to Henri...And if the world needs me in the meantime, you've but to call...I think that's a rather good bargain for you..."

"It certainly beats my hunting every Councilor down..." she noted... "Rupert...If you truly are my friend...My second father, as Willow and Dawn tell me...Don't force a final breech between us...You may find Buffy, should she return, not very appreciative of your refusing to help me...Please...Give me reason to trust a Councilor again..."

"As I have no real choice..." he shrugged... "But I am not ready to lose Buffy Summers to you yet...However much the others may yield..."

"Now that's honesty...And I appreciate it..." Buffy smiled...

Sacramento International Airport...Four days later...Airport lounge...

Willow hugging Kennedy...Much to her parents' discomfort...Sheila Rosenberg in particular...

"Well...I guess..." Kennedy sighed...

"I'll call you every day from Rome..." Willow kissed her... Sheila gritting teeth...Ira Rosenberg choosing to engage in pleasant conversation with Rupert Giles...Must be quite an endowment, that Royal Antiquarian thing of yours has...To cover a six-month fellowship in Rome...

"I'm just pleased Willow and the others were able to accept..." Giles noted...

"Six months, Willow..." Sheila interrupted further affectionate interaction... "By then U Cal-Sacramento will be able to take you and the other Sunnydale students and I don't want you staying longer..."

"Six months, Ma..." Willow nodded... "And I'll call you every day too...I promise..."

"I'd better be going..." Kennedy patted Willow...

"Yes...Bye...Where are the Summers girls...?" Sheila asked as Kennedy moved to speak with Giles over in a corner...

"Coming...Buffy was doing some shopping...Ma...You didn't have to be so cool to Kennedy..." Willow sighed...

"Who?...Oh, her...Willow...Don't press me on these things..." Sheila frowned... "You're lucky I'm letting you go to Rome with the Summers girls...By the way, what is that with Buffy these days?...Is she trying to be funny with that accent?..."

"She's been around me much too long, Mrs. Rosenberg..." Giles, having given Kennedy final instructions on Slayer training assignments, had come to them...

"I think she's just practicing for Europe, Ma..." Willow suggested... "Just a mo..." she hurried off to give the departing Kennedy a final hug...

"Hello there!..." Buffy called...The group turning to see Buffy in long black-buttoned skirt, frilly, heavy though not totally eccentric white blouse...And most disconcerting, sweeping hat, complete with flowers...Pinned to her tightly bunned hair...

Dawn in similar outfit, hat off and in hand, grumpily beside her...Ms. Knowles with them...

No one told me I'd have to wear this crap...Dawn frowned at the group...Glaring at hat...

"Sorry we were a bit slow...Amazing place...I was watching the aircraft..." Buffy beamed at the frowning Sheila... "It was delightful..."

"After she stopped screaming every time one got off the ground..." Dawn hissed to Xander..Seated and waiting with Andrew...

"Nice hat..." Xander noted... "What's it weigh, ten pounds with all those flowers?..."

"Shut up...Next time you wear it..."

"Are we all ready for our aerial journey?..." Buffy asked...

"Everyone's here..." Giles noted...

"Excellent...Dawn?..." she called...

"Yeah..." curt reply...

"Children these days..." Buffy sighed to Sheila... "Would you come here, please?...I want to make sure we've everything..."

Dawn, glaring, trudged over...

"Bag, please..." She handed her large...God don't let anyone I don't know in Rome worth knowing see this, she thought...Purse over...

"We've checked five times since this morning, Buffy...I have the boarding passes and the passports, the address and number of the hotel in Rome...Everyone has copies ..."

"That's fine...But it never hurts to be sure...And what about..."

"The canteen is in there..."

"Just in case the craft should falter..." Buffy explained... "Water is usually the one essential necessary for survival..."

"Uh-huh..." Sheila stared...Willow hastening over from where she'd finally released Kennedy at Dawn's urgent stare...

"And where's...?"

"Buffy...I told you...You can't bring signal flares on airplanes...Not even matches..."

"Seems ridiculous...What if you're lost at sea?...A signal rocket can make all the difference..."

"They have radios...And they bring their own flares..."

"Mom..." Willow pulled the ever-more frowning Sheila away...er aside...

"I wanted to ask your advice..." she began...Immediately refocusing Sheila's full attention...

"Well, Rupert..." Buffy had reluctantly accepted the situation as to signal rockets...Father would have insisted on bringing our own on any vessel... "Thank you for your help..." she offered a hand... "I do look forward to seeing you in England later..."

"As do I, Buffy..." She leaned forward, offering a cheek, which after a moment's hesitation, he kissed...

"But tell the Council...I will not tolerate interference this time..." she hissed...

"As you wish...So long as I feel Buffy and the others are in no danger..." he whispered back...

She gave him a quick peck in turn...Holding his hand a moment... "Let me believe in you, Rupert..." she whispered...And turned to the others... "Well...Shall we?..."

"They have to call us for boarding, Buffy..." Dawn noted dryly... "We've about an hour to go yet..."

"Willow...?" Giles had moved over to her...Sheila reluctantly disengaging...Ira over with Xander and Andrew, attempting to 'connect' with Willow's odd little 'posse' of history buffs...

Wouldn't have taken Harris for a budding historian...Though Tucker's brother there...

Buffy briefly eyeing the two, Willow and Giles, as they moved off...

Ms. Knowles in her turn giving Giles a brief glance which he studiously failed to return...

"Giles...I know you're upset with me...And I know we're leaving at a bad time..."

"You've made your decision, Willow...A foolish one, I fear...But I can only accept it and hope for the best..."

"She seems willing to listen to us..."

"Willow...I beg you...If you'll heed no other advice from me...At least be on guard with her...And contact me if there are any problems...Even a suspicion of one...Don't overestimate your new abilities or underestimate hers..."

"I won't...But I don't believe she's Evil or small e-vil, Giles..."

"Nor do I, frankly...But we can't be sure of anything...Except that she is blocking our Buffy's return, even if involuntarily...And that she has her own agenda, focused on her own goals...Never forget that...Please, Willow..."

"I don't trust her blindly, Giles...I'll be watchin' my back..."

"All right...I'll wait and pray for the best...Good luck..." he paused... "Willow...I do hope she finds what she is seeking...So long as it does not prevent Buffy's safe return...But I will be working toward that end..."

"I know...So does she...Giles, don't do anything rash yourself...Ripper..." she grinned...

He nodded...

"And take care...We'll call when we get there..."

"And do be cautious with the Immortal..." he paused... "His record is excellent...But with a being like him, one can never be sure of his long-range objectives...I'll try to have support at hand but..."

"Right...I'll keep my shields up...It will be all right, Giles..."

"I pray so...Godspeed, girl..." She hugged him...

"See ya in England before you know it...And next time we'll do the town on the Walthrop trust with the merry widow..."

"A bit too merry..." he noted quietly...Looking over to where Buffy, engaged in instructing Dawn on proper deportment with servants...Er, service people...Glanced his way...Their eyes meeting briefly...

"She doesn't believe she is..." Willow replied... "Maybe, until she does believe it...Or finds his spirit...Somewhere...Buffy won't come back...I want her back too, Giles...Don't doubt it..."

"Willow...Do you trust me?..." he looked at her...

She sighed... "Sure...Yes...You know I do..."

"Beware what you may learn...What she may learn...From the Immortal..."

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present…With help from an Immortal source.

Part VI…

"This is so amazing..." Buffy looked out the side window of United 7478 to New York, then Rome...Now 36,000 feet over the MidWestern US...

"The wings don't flap at all..." she noted... "I would have thought they'd have to flap..."

"Lift from the air flowing underneath, Buf..." Xander, next to her, explained... "Though we do have some flapping winged experimental models for hovering, that sort of thing, in the military...It doesn't generally work well...Too much strain..."

"Remarkable...I once took a balloon up when Father and I were in Italy one summer...1871, I think...Made me ill, the basket shook so much..."

"'Balloons have had their day...The future belongs to the flying machine...'" Andrew, seated behind Buffy quoted... "Vincent Price, as Robur in 'Master of the World...'" he explained...

"Wish we had a little time in NYC..." Dawn noted to Willow, beside her... "I'm sure I could shake her out of these 'Hello, Dolly' outfits if I could get her over to the shops...And..." she sighed... "For once, we could buy anything...We're rich..."

"Thanks to my husband's brother..." Buffy called back... "And I would remind you there are many people even in this prosperous world who would appreciate such fine clothes as you have..."

"I'm not wearing this stuff in Rome!..." Dawn hollered back... "You promised you'd let me pick out my own stuff when we get there..."

"Within the limits of propriety, Dawn...I also said that..."

"So...Sandler..." Buffy turned back to Xander...Who'd...Almost...Come to like the new name...

"...You will let me have the pleasure of seeing you properly introduced to Roman society?..." she raised a hand... "I know you're still in mourning...But a man must cut a good figure...And you, Andrew?...After all, you gentlemen will be our chaperones in Rome..."

"Yeah, Xander...Let Buffy properly introduce you..." Dawn called... "You'll look good in a corset..."

"Pay no attention to the child..." Buffy frowned... "I merely want to see you both at your best..You see, in Europe...Standards are a bit more formal..."

"Open shirts, gold chains, slick hair..." Dawn called...

"The lower quarters of the city..." Buffy waved a hand... "Have you been before?..." she rose up to look at Dawn over her seat...

"TV...Movies..." Dawn shook her head... "They're all like that ..."

"Uncanny..." Buffy shook hers... "Anyway...In the better quarters..."

JFK International Airport...

"Hey, Giles..." Willow spoke into her cell... "We got an hour before we reboard...Alls well..."

"What?..." she asked the phone...

"Angel did what?..."

Xander came over, bearing coffee...

"No..." Willow's voice, shocked... "Giles, it can't be true...He'd never..."

Xander eyeing him...

"Angelus again?..." he asked...Willow putting up a hand...

"I don't believe it, Giles...It's a trick to fool the Partners...He'd never accept such a deal...Wesley wouldn't either..."

I knew it...Xander shook his head...Pompous ass...Spike was right about him all along...

"Movie deal, right?...Sold his and Buf's story?..."

"Xander...Please...What, Giles?...Giles, we haven't even mentioned Angel to her yet...Ok...Ok...I'll try to bring it up...Carefully...Giles, I know you don't like Angel but...Ok...Ok...Just wait and see what happens, please...Don't make any fast judgments...Ok...We'll watch out...Shields are up...Ok, Giles...Take care..." she hung up...

Well...? Xander eyed her stricken face...

"It can't be true..." she shook her head... "Giles...Hates Angel...His judgment's clouded..."

"How much did they get?..." he asked...

And who'll be playing me?...He did not ask...

"Everything...The whole shebang...If Giles is right...But it can't be..." she shook her head again...

"I'll have to let Buffy know...But I haven't even told her about Angel yet..." she sighed...

"The whole shebang?...What, Tom Hanks playing Angel?..." he asked...

"What?.." she stared at him, frowned... "Angel sold out to the Partners...Giles says...His contacts in LA for the Council reported in when he tried to reach Angel about Buffy and couldn't get him...Angel's accepted a deal with Wolfram-Hart...He and all his guys...They're working for Wolfram-Hart...And Angel..." she stared out of the airport terminal window...

"Angel's the new CEO of Wolfram-Hart, LA...Covering all of the US..."

Angel?...Xander stared...CEO?...

"The guy doesn't even have a law degree...CEO?..." he shook his head...

"It must be a plan...A ruse..." Willow shook her head... "Or Angelus is back...But Giles says his guys checked it out...Angel's still got a soul..."

"CEO?..." Xander repeated...

"Sandler?...Willow?..." Buffy looked at them...Cinnabun in hand...Dawn reluctantly chewing on hers...She keeps feeding us like this we will both need corsets...Ms. Knowles, beside Buffy, holding camera...Commerative shots for the family back home, she explained to Xander's glance...Everyone's eager to see the returned member..Andrew sporting dark glasses...Gift of the newly flush Mrs. W's determination to see him cut a proper figure in Rome...

"Anything wrong...?" Buffy asked...

En route to Rome...Willow now seated next to Buffy...

"So this...Liam...Was my...Buffy's...Affianced?..." Buffy asked... "Before William appeared in Sunnydale?..."

"Not exactly...Affianced..." Willow noted...

"Oh, good..." Buffy gave a sigh... "I was afraid from your tone I'd contacted a marriage or something in this form...So he was just my lover?..."

Willow blinked...Ummn...

"You people..." Buffy grinned... "So much put out on the surface, nothing kept within...Did you think we never had relations?...Lord..."

"Not exactly your lover..." Willow noted... "Though you did love him...A long time...In fact..."

"Better and better..." Buffy beamed... "So...William had competition, eh...?" wider grin... "Nothing wrong with making him work for it...Or me..." she beamed... "Had I chosen?...Of course I did...William was the one dying for me at Sunnydale...So...This Liam...Ah, Liam...William...Obvious confusion on my...Buffy's part...The fellow couldn't stand the rejection, folded, eh?...Turned to ..." she put on a Darth Vader voice...Having seen her first "Star Wars" on the flight to NYC...Incredible..Wagnerian, she'd noted to Willow... "The 'Dark Side'...?...Well, that's a pity...I'm sure though Mr. Giles can deal with some petty human captain of industry..."

"It's a pretty Evil firm, Buffy..." Willow sighed... "And Angel isn't...Exactly..."

"Angel?..." Buffy stared... "The fellow's name was Liam Angel...?"

"Liam was his human name..." Willow explained... "But, when he became a vampire..."

"I loved a vampire named Angel...?" Buffy stared... "Was I in love with Death, or something?..."

"Well...See..."

"He had a soul too..." Dawn called...

"A soul...?" Buffy stared... "Angel, with a soul..." she eyed Willow... "Was that how William...? Did he show William how...?"

"Oh, no...See Angelus was cursed by a gypsy and..."

Buffy?...Willow stared at the frozen face...

"I never really trusted him..."Xander on Buffy's left, noted...

"Buffy..." Willow tried calm reason... "We can't ask the pilot to turn around...We have to go to Rome..."

"Rome?..." Buffy stared...

"You wanted to see the Immortal...To talk about William..."

"Can you please not block the aisle?..." a flight attendant frowned at them...

Hey, we're first class, bucko...Willow frowned...At these prices, if we wanta stand in the aisle...

"Angelus must die..." Buffy said... "We have to go to Los Angeles and kill him...Now..."

"Buffy...This trip to Rome was your idea..."

"Angelus started the cycle...I'll close the ring..." Hmmn...Likewise Wagnerian... "...With him...We just have to go find him..."

"Buffy, Angel loved you...And you loved him..."

"He didn't die in Sunnydale...And any relations Miss Summers had with him are her own business..."

"I'm sure this thing about him and the Partners can be explained...He's a good guy post soul curse..." Willow pleaded...

"He created Drusilla...Drusilla killed William...I kill Angelus and the horror ends and my husband is partially avenged..."

Partially?...Xander stared...

"Angelus created Dru...Not Angel...Buffy, would you let us blame William for Spike?..."

That got her...Dawn nodded to Olive...Both trying to look casual as they blocked Buffy's path to the flight deck...

"Never..." Buffy shook her head...Looking to the flight deck door beyond Olive and Dawn... "But I've sworn an oath on William's soul to kill Angelus and Drusilla..."

"Buffy...You can't fly a plane...And people are beginning to talk..." Willow noted...

Buffy looked round...Hmmn...

Perhaps...

"Lets go talk this over...You can always kill Angelus later once we've been to Rome...We'll know where to find him, he's now head of one of the world's most prominent corporations..."

"An exploiter of the working class as well..." Buffy nodded, red spots on her cheeks...But allowed Willow to take her hand and lead her back to her seat... "William was against oppression, you know...A Democratic Socialist...We were going to join the Fabians..."

"First time flying...A little disoriented..." Willow explained to various passengers staring as they headed back... "Yes...Very sorry...Nothing to worry about..." Buffy agreed...

"Sorry to make a scene..."

"No problem..." Willow patted her...

"But he must die, you know..."

"We'll talk...Won't we talk, Olive?..."

"Oh, yes..."

"Right...Ummn...Willow?..."

"Yeah, Buf..."

"I never...Relations...?"

"Never...His curse wouldn't allow it..."

"Oh...Thank God...Thank God..." sigh...

"But what about her first...?" Dawn began, from her seat behind...

"Fellow named Riley...Dawn's confused...Human...Great guy..." Willow, hastily... "Didn't last once William showed..."

"Oh?...Really?..." pleased tone...

Xander, reseated, holding hand over Dawn's mouth in their row...

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present…With help from an Immortal source.

Part VII…

En route to Rome...

In hopes of keeping Buffy calm Willow had started the next film supplied...Which seemed not only pleasant but with Renee Zellweger in 19th century costume...Right up Cicely's alley...

And with Buffy apparently over the Angel thing for the moment...She'd decided to make use of the facilities...

Hmmn...Ewan McGregor as romantic lead, she eyed a video as she went up the aisle...Neat...

What was that name again?..Ah, right..."Miss Potter..." Cute with the bunnies coming to life and the happy romance of the sweet guy and the writer where the gentle guy dies a tragically untimely...

Whoops!...

Olive glaring at her as she held the sobbing Buffy...Dawn holding Buffy's hand...

"Miss Potter..."? Olive asked...Dawn glaring as well...

"I'm sorry about the film, Buf..." Willow tried...

"He was so sweet..." Buffy teared up again... "Just like..."

"I know..." pat...

"I've betrayed him..." she shook her head...

"No..." Willow insisted... "Buffy, you saved him...He got his soul back for you..."

"But I...Didn't help him..I left him..."

"No...No...He'd never say that...Well, Spike might...But William..."

"Why did she leave him?...All alone..."

"Buffy...There was no choice...He wanted you to live...He loved..."

"...her..." Buffy frowned... "That's what you mean, isn't it?...He loved her..."

"Ummn..."

"He'd forgotten me...Hated me, probably...With good reason..."

"No...He...Well, he must have sensed...I guess..."

"Can...I tell you...?"

"Buffy?..."

"The whole story...?"

"If you want to...I don't want to intrude..."

"Nonsense..." she wiped tears...Grinned... "Miss Rosenberg, I've been dying to tell someone since I returned...You people never asked..."

"Well...We got five hours..." Willow noted...

"Wait up!..." Dawn called... "I gotta go...Don't start till I come back...!"

"Yeah!..."Andrew echoed...

"Cicely!..." booming cry...

"Anne?...Where's my cousin?..." the dark-haired figure in evening clothes called to the slight blonde maid...

("My 1880 twin sounds quite the guy..." Xander beams... "Are saying Buffy was your maid back then?..." Dawn asked, a bit peeved... "Doubtful...The girl was natural..." Buffy replied...)

"Upstairs, sir...Along in a mo..."

"Well, tell her I have someone to meet..."

"Henry..." a sighing voice... "Your cousin doesn't want to meet me..."

"She's dying to meet you...Though trust me, she'll never show it..."

"Henry!..." call from above... "What is it?..."

"I brought him!...Come on down, if you're not too fancy..."

"Henry..."

"Sticking post, Will..." Henry Foxcroft grinned to his friend...A slight brown-haired fellow in ill-fitting new suit...Spectacles carefully perched...

"Yes?..." the figure approached from out of the light streaming from a large window...

"William Soames Walthrop...My cousin, Cicely Addams..." Henry smiled...

"Mr. Walthrop...I've heard..." Cicely took his hand...Eyeing Henry...

"Are you all right, sir?..." she stared...

"I...Fine,. Miss Addams...Fine..." William shook his head...Trying to force back the tears...

"You're..."

("...'a poet...' I said..." Buffy noted... "But I meant to say...'You're...Crying?'...He cried on seeing me... And my heart cried too, for joy...I knew him, you see...Before I ever met him...I knew him...And he knew me..."

"It's all right, Andy..." Dawn called to the sobbing Andrew...)

"You have no idea of what the life of a working man is, Miss Addams..." William frowned...

"Ah, yes...I'm a vapid fool...A silly, stupid piece of porcelain on display..." Cicely glared...

He put up a hand...Enough...

"I've no wish to see you ever endure that life...But you can't know it unless you've experienced it..."

"I might know more of life than you think, sir..." Cicely, quietly... "You're quick to judge me without knowing..."

"This is a waste of time..." William frowned... "You've had your fun playing with me...I'll be going..."

("Now this has an eerie something about it..." Dawn noted... "Doomed..." Andrew shook his head sadly... "Not if I can help it, Mr. Wells!..." Buffy called... "Andrew..." Willow hissed... "Go on...")

She stared...What?...Going?...

"My cousin is coming to meet you..."

"Tell him I had pressing matters...I'll see him later...Good day..."

Going...? But...

"I'm sorry if I offended, William...Please..."

"None taken...We obviously don't see eye to eye...I'm sorry if I was rude...I'm not used to speaking with...Oh...Good day..."

"With what?...Can't bear to argue with a woman?...I...William, where are you going?...What pressing matters?...Henry's coming shortly..."

"I'll see him later..."

"What...Have I...?..." You little...Oh, please don't go...

"It's not that...I'm sorry...You're quite intelligent and...Look...You have guests...I apologize again...I'm a clumsy fool with no business even to...Sorry to intrude...Good day..." he struggled a bit with the door latch...Fine...He turned for the gate at the far end of the garden...

"Where are you going, sir?... Stop, William!...I asked you where you were going, sir!..."

"Out...for...a walk, b..."

("Bit more followed..." Buffy grinned to Willow..."God, I hit him so hard...Thought I'd killed him for a moment...Nearly killed myself till he started coughing...Oh, and after that, when he did leave...I was so lost...Demented...Though...I did manage to come up with a plan shortly afterwards...You see, Henry had a small cottage, up in the Lake District..." Roguish look... "You...Ummn...Wanton? you..." Willow ..."Trollop if my father had found out..." "I...Henry didn't go with you guys?..." Xander asked, a bit put out by his character's failing on the chaperone end...)

"Haven't you ever been in a boat, Mr. Walthrop?..." Cicely asked... Smiling at the little man...As he struggled with the oars...

A day out in the Lake District, courtesy dear Henry and his generous offer of his little cottage and boat...

Ummn...Walthrop shrugged...Trying to seem casual about it...Casual as one could with one oar floating off into the center of the lake while the other seemed likely to pull him in...

Why the hell she'd asked him to come out here...He'd never know...She must enjoy the spectacle of him constantly being humiliated, trying to cope with a world he'd never experienced outside of his beloved books...

Well, there goes the other oar...

And he'd given up critical exams time for this...Not to mention precious dabs of his funds in traveling here...Money much better spent on his books or better still left to Mum, and sister and brother, Amelia and Philip...Mum's legacy from "Mr. Walthrop..." not being bottomless...

Still, she'd promised to "fire his poetical imagination" with new sights...Actually she'd teased that she would do what she could to fire anything that might possibly be there...

Dim coals, judging by what she'd read of his work...

Well, to be fair, a remark she instantly withdrawn and profusely apologized for after seeing his crestfallen face...

Rather remarkable, her consideration for his feelings just then...Considering her usual haughty prig manner...

She'd almost seemed...To care...

But then, she simply wanted to please ole Henry...And demonstrate her capacity for compassion to the lower orders...

Who knew, maybe she was in love with ole cousin Henry...? Unable to act on it, perhaps, but desperate to please him...

The boat was drifting out into the center of the lake...At least in pursuit of one oar, he noted, if rather slowly...

Oddly enough she didn't seem much distressed by the situation...Lost out on the lake with her cousin's ragamuffin charity case "friend"... The "dangerous radical" William Soames Walthrop...A joking sobriquet she'd placed on him at dinner the other night...Which her father had taken quite serious umbrage at...Glaring at the "radical" Henry had smuggled into his home all the rest of the evening...

Well, he supposed if she was so determined to take it calmly, the least he could do was demonstrate similar fortitude...

"Don't be distressed..." she told him...Kindly, he noted with surprise...

William...she paused...

He stared at her...

"We can just drift a bit...We'll catch up to one of the oars soon enough..."

Tell me about your family...William...she eyed him...

"Henry says...He told me...Your mother's ill..."

Tuberculosis...he nodded... "That's why she's in London now..."

After years of slaving like a dog...With beatings from the masters to boot...

"Amazing what "gentlemen" can get away with when the woman beaten almost to death by her employer is a poor servant..." he noted...

God save the Queen, our just legal system, and our noble Parliament...

Still...One of them finally did the right thing...Must have been a deathbed's repentance...he noted... "Thank God in time to spare my poor mother a little suffering in her last years...:

"And here am I...She gambling everything on my success..."

"Henry is hoping to better things like that..." she noted...

When he gets to Parliament...

I wish there were more like him...William noted simply...

"I've always said it...He is a good man...And my friend..."

"Who owes you a great deal, William..." she looked at him...

"He needed a bit of help...I was glad to oblige..."

"He would have failed and been sent down...If you hadn't taken him in hand..."

"I rather enjoyed helping a toff..." William said curtly...

Nice to have one indebted to one...Can come in handy...

"Are you always so ready to snap at anyone who shows you a little kindness...?" she glared...

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean that..."

As I didn't mean to hurt you the other day...she noted...

"I thought you could take criticism...You certainly claim to be able to..."

"I never claimed to be a great poet, Miss Addams...I just...Try to write..."

"You need more...Experience...William..."

"I've had years of it, Miss Addams...Assisting my mother and her fellows in service, working in factories, working anywhere I could make a few shillings...Trying to keep a roof over my brother and sister's heads...Keep my mother in some dignity until she dies...And if things are a bit easier for us now, we're by no means secure yet..."

He eyed her...

"But it's what I tried to tell you the other day...You can't know the "experience" I've had...And frankly, I'm glad for you, you haven't..."

It was clouding up and getting gusty...

"I may have had more "experience" than you can imagine, William..."

He stared at her...

"My name, by the way, is Cicely...Please use it...I don't like calling you by your first if you refuse to use mine..." she smiled wanly at him...

She looks tired...He noted...As if she's been working at the books or something...All night...

"Perhaps we'd best try heading in..." he looked at her...

Wouldn't want to compromise your reputation any further...

"I can bear a little "compromising"..." she smiled...Stared at him...

Was she...Nervous?...

And looked away...

"Henry thinks you have a great future..." she began...

Henry...Is a very kind friend...

"But when you get your degree..."

I will be a poor man with a degree from Cambridge, three others to feed on a dwindling income...And...

A very bad poet...

"Your story the other night was very good..." she paused... "You have promise..."

"A tale to friends about my working days...A hair better than my poems...As your friend Henderson pointed out...When he gave me my new nickname..."

"Bloody Aw..."

("That's where it came from?..." Willow stared... "Buffy told me about that already...!" Dawn, pleased to hold prior knowledge... "I never thought his stuff was bad..." Andrew noted..."Except that one about '...midnight descending...'..." "What?..." Buffy rose and looked down behind her seat on the little critic... "You mean 'To Cicely'...?" she glared... "Must be another one, I'm sure..." Andrew replied...)

"Henderson is an ass!..." she eyed him fiercely... "You wrong me to call him my friend..."

He stared at her...So angry...So suddenly...

Like a summer storm...

For...Him?...

"Are you going to let a fool like him tell you to stop...?" she went on..."Is that what your mother killed herself for... So you could give up at the first hint of criticism?..."

"I have to think practically...Mouths to feed, remember?..."

"Don't belittle my opinions, Will...iam...Just because I don't know hunger and cold right now doesn't mean I don't understand..."practicalities"..." she told him crossly... "I'm not a little fool, you know..."

Just because you must think of the practical doesn't mean...The romantic in you has to die...she muttered...Looking out toward shore...

Odd...? He could almost...Think she was talking about...herself...

"The romantic mustn't die, Will.." .she looked back at him... "Life's not worth living without it..."

Wind was really picking up now...Boat rocking...

"Are you all right?..." she looked at him...

Just...he paused...

A trifle...Giddy...

A swell caught them neatly, lifting the boat, turning it over...

"William!..." she cried, grabbing for him...With simply amazing speed...

But a hair too slow...They went in separately...

He bobbed up...Much to his own surprise...

She wasn't there...He looked round in terror...

"Cicely!..." he screamed...

"Cicely!"

He pushed himself back down...And found her just under the upturned boat, stunned by striking the side...

Grabbing her, he desperately dived back under, while trying to cover her mouth and nose from the water...And popped up with her on the other side...She coughing and choking as he propped her up against the upturned boat...

"He saved me, that day..." Buffy smiled serenely..."And after that...And the night we spent together in Henry's cottage..." serene smile turning wicked... "I knew..."

"But...What happened..." Willow stared...

"I thought my allusion was clear...We had relations...Must I spell everything out for you so baldly...?" Buffy frowned...

"I mean...After..."

Oh...

"Well...I asked him to marry me...He accepted...And then I betrayed him..." she said quietly...

"Why didn't you just leave...?" Willow asked...

Buffy shrugged... "I knew they'd find out..I could sense Drusilla, closing in...She'd perceived him, somehow...She was coming for him, targeting him...And I couldn't find her, destroy her...There was no other option...I have to save him..." she paused...

"Had...I mean..."

Yeah, right...Dawn frowned...And we're on this plane why?...

"So...I turned to my Watcher, Dr. Farris...The man who'd trained me, taught me everything...And begged for help from him and the Council...My beloved guardians of Humanity...My protectors..."

"And they off'd Will?..." Dawn called...

"That I might have been able to bear..."Buffy sighed... "But there was a reason for Drusilla's strange interest..."

"They sent..." Willow shook her head...

"It wasn't all their doing..." Buffy shook her head in turn... "But I was fool enough to think they'd let me be...Let us go..."

It must have been nice for Buffy to have so many Slayers in the ranks, she noted... "Whoever figured out how to power the new Slayers surely deserves our thanks..."

You're welcome...Willow did not say...

"How'd they get Dru to kill Will?..." Dawn called...

"So...I begged...And Simon did what he always did...Tried to help me..." Buffy sighed...

"And summoned Halfreck, one of the vengeance lord's..."

"Haly?..." Dawn called... "You called in Halfreck?..."

We knew Halfreck, Willow explained...

"She's toast..." Dawn called..."Even the soul..."

"Really?..." Buffy stared...Willow nodded...

"Well...Thank you, Buffy..." she noted...Patting her own shoulder...

"Nah...D'Hoffryn took her out..." Dawn called...

"Ok...So Halfreck gets summoned..." Willow noted...

"Check..." Dawn, from behind...

"And she takes your form and meets William that night..."

"March 13th, 1880...' Dawn called...

"And rejects him while you hide upstairs...?"

"Stupid..."Dawn called...

"Dawn..."

"She's right..." Buffy sighed... "Very stupid...And useless..."

"And then Dru got him...A few blocks from your place..."

"Yes..."

"That does sound a little too..."

"Convenient...Yes..."

"So you were set up..." Dawn noted from her seat...Andrew next to her nodding...

"Oh, yes..." Buffy nodded...

"So that's what happened to Spike..." Willow shook her head... "I'm sorry..."

"Why didn't you kill Dru?..." Dawn called... "And save Spike...?"

"I tried both..." Buffy noted...

But there were complications...

"The Council protected Drusilla?..." Willow eyed her...

"Possibly...I don't know...But I soon wasn't up to the job..."

"What?...Where you pregnant or something?..." Dawn called...

"A remarkable child...A delightful child..." Buffy frowned...

"Buffy coulda handled a kid and still killed Dru..."

"Did I mention I was poisoned by the Council...?"

"So, that's how you ended up at a hospital...That November, you said before..." Willow said...

"That's how...I was dying...Though I'd hoped...Once I had the baby...I might recover my strength and I could try some of the things I'd found in those last months on Will...If I could find him...Or, if all else failed..."

"Dust him..." Dawn nodded...Calling...

"No, you little know-all..." Buffy frowned...

"You'd've let him...?" Willow stared...

"Why not...?" Buffy stared back... "They took our lives away...Now we'd take theirs...Together...Though that was only an alternative plan..."

"No guy is worth that...You tole me that..." Dawn called...

"Your sister Buffy sounds like a snow queen!..." Buffy called back... "Did she never love anyone?..."

"Buffy meant some guy you meet in high school with a magic jacket, Dawn...Not the guy or girl you make a life with..." Willow returned...

"That's not what she said..."

"Perhaps that explains why most of her lovers were Undead!..." Buffy called...

"Hey..."

"I'm sure Buffy meant it my way...I knew her...She had a very warm heart..." Willow, patiently...

"Damn, tootin'..."

"Dawn...What did we say about such language?..." Buffy called... "The foul mouth on that child..." she noted to Willow...

"Ah...$#%$!..."

"You want me to come back there?..." Buffy called, angrily... "William may have favored sparing the rod after his harsh childhood, but I'm a firm believer in a moderate degree of physical discipline, girl..."

"Dawnie, I gotta go with Buffy on this one...Can it..." Willow called...

"Anyway, it was the alternate plan..." Buffy noted... "I was sure with what I and Henry'd uncovered in our research I could free William...If only I could catch Spike...But..."

"How did the Council poison you?..." Willow asked... "Are you sure it was them?..."

"They were the only ones with opportunity and motive...No demon enemy would waste time with subtle means..."

"Exceptin' Angelus..." Dawn noted...

"I considered that...But he still likes the personal touch in murder..." Buffy replied...

"So your Watcher..."

"No...Simon...Protected me...He was like a father to me..." Buffy said, hastily... "He violated orders to keep in touch with me...No...Someone else, Chairman Rathskellar...Not Simon..."

"You're pretty hard on Giles, if this guy was so good..." Dawn noted...

"I...Had doubts...But Simon wouldn't...He cared for me..."

"Giles cares for Buffy..." Willow sighed... "And you were pretty rough on him...If this Dr. Farris was so good, why not trust Giles...?"

"I've given him my trust...To an extent...But as a whole...The Council cares only for its power and that power is the Slayer...Slayers, now...They killed to retain that power as they have in the past..."

"Giles says they do what's necessary to protect Humanity..." Willow pointed out... "And he's never..."

"He tried to kill William..." Buffy, coldly... "Not the demon...William...And you yourselves told me that...And that he never tried to kill Spike...Left him to me...Buffy...To clean up the mess nice and neatly for his Council..."

If I don't kill him for that alone, consider him fortunate...she frowned... "But we'll see how good a person he is...And how he keeps his pledges..."

"So you want to find out who on the Council poisoned you...? And killed William?..." Andrew called...

"It might make a difference if it was a faction...Rather than the whole Council...But they never operate without unity...Unless.."Buffy paused...

"Unless...They didn't do it..." Willow sugested...

"They did it...I had proof..." Buffy shook her head... "I had a final meeting with Halfreck...I couldn't kill her...But I made her talk..."

"Though..." she sighed... "She escaped me before telling me who initially sanctioned the operation against me...I was weakening then...Even the medicine Simon got for me wasn't helping...But it was the whole Council that voted to turn from me...Their own agents confirmed that..."

"So how's this Immortal guy fit in...?" Dawn asked...

"He saw me die...Tried to save me..." Buffy replied, quietly..."And was the one and only person among the Undead I actually ever truly saved...I mean besides my usual method..."

"Buffy..." Willow eyed her... "If you do find the full Council arranged this...Those men and women are all long dead..."

"I know that..."

"And their families...Aren't responsible..."

Buffy said nothing for a moment... "You'll like Henri, Willow...Very charming fellow...A count actually..."

"No, not another Dracula..." Xander sighed... "I knew the punk we killed wasn't the real deal..."

"D'Vestigy...Not Dracula...So we killed Vladimir?...Good riddance...I was thinking of going to Romania to take care of him, but...How is old Vlad, by the way?...Did he ever find his poor wife?..."

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part VIII...

En route to Rome…

Buffy now listened with the others as Olive filled in some details of the family…

"Amelia lived to 1922…" she noted… "She never gave up the search for William…Though Philip dismissed Henry's stories as nonsense…Assumed William had run off and died in some foolish poet's romantic quest…She believed…And passed the search on to her children and Philip's…By then she'd gathered some evidence to confirm Mr. Foxcroft's tales…"

"Henry…What happened to him?...He did find some happiness…?" Buffy asked, anxiously…

"He rejoined our families, Buffy…Married Amelia in 1884…"

"Good job…" Dawn patted Xander in their row… "That's for him, you know…"

"Then what…?"

"Well…We continued to try and monitor William…He left enough of a trail that we could follow his exploits, though he was far too elusive and dangerous for us to confront…Especially when paired with Drusilla…" Olive began… "Excuse me…?" she stared at the questioner, a chubby, balding fellow of forty or so, standing in the aisle by their seats…

"Who are you…?"

Buffy, Willow, Xander, Andrew, Dawn all staring…

Ummn… "Great story…" the man nodded…

"Go away, sir…" Buffy frowned… "This is a private gathering…"

Human, unfortunately…she noted to Willow…As the man slouched off, ears still perked…

"Here…" he handed a young woman in his seat row a small pocket tape recorder… "Get this transcribed as soon as possible after we land…" Waving to the group up front glaring down at him…Hey…

"Yes, Mr. Whedon…" the girl nodded…

Rome…

"What did I tell you?..." Dawn sighed… "We look like a couple of Iranians…Just need the burkas…"

Buffy glancing round at the young and not-so-young Italian women passing by the hotel's square…Well…Probably not the best quarter…

Willow repressing a slight smile…For once I'm the one in style…Well, she eyed her own outfit as one young woman passing gave her a slight, rather sympathetic glance…Poor thing…

Maybe not in style…But stylier…She thought…

"Andrew, Sandler…" Buffy turned to the men of the party… "Would you deal with the bags?...And watch them at all times…I had a trunk stolen in Rome in 1871…"

Well…She beamed at Dawn, Olive, and Willow as the boys attempted to 'deal'…Andrew struggling with the large old trunk Buffy'd insisted on purchasing in a vintage shop in Sacramento…Something sturdy being always preferable on a long foreign excursion she'd explained to Dawn at the time…

"The Eternal City…Fitting home of the Immortal…Oh, I feel like I've returned home…This is one city that never changes…It'll be my turn to show you ladies round…" she smiled… "Now, just let me find my guide to the ruins…"

"A few things have changed in a hundred and twenty five years, Buffy…" Dawn noted dryly…

"Yes, the women are as nude as the statues…" Buffy frowned… "Here…Yes…Hmmn…" she thumbed through the book… "Not as good as the one I had on my first trip…" she noted to Willow… "Still…Should be adequate once Henri helps us find a proper guide… Giuseppe!..." she called to the clerk at the front desk they were approaching…

"Buffy…" Willow hissed… "It probably isn't…"

"Madame…" the clerk beamed at Buffy… "I see you remember me…A thousand pardons that I seem to have a bit of trouble…"

"Cicely Walthrop and party…" she smiled… "Mrs. Cicely Walthrop…" He turned to his computer…

"One of them is always named Giuseppe…" she hissed to Willow… "My father always said it made for better service if they thought you recognized them…"

Hmmn-hmm…Racial profiling, courtesy Sir Richard Addams…Off to a nice stereotypical start…Willow thought…

"Yes…From California…?" Giuseppe looked up, eyed Buffy… "Sorry, madame…Your accent…"

"I'm originally from London…But, not all of us can be British, unfortunately…" she smiled…

"She was not supposed to use that name…" Xander had come over… "Giles only wanted to humor her…That phony passport worked on the plane but it can't be counted on if they check too much…" he whispered… "The Council might not be in shape to provide back-up confirmation of her citizenship in England…"

"You tell her…" Willow hissed back… "Anyway it's only till we meet 'Henri'…And it explains the accent till we teach her some Californian…"

"Summers…" Dawn, at the desk, was firm… A proud defender of the family name, even if an artificial one… "Dawn Summers…"

"Willow.." Buffy had come over… "I was thinking…So long as we have Buffy's passport as well…Are you quite sure you should use your real name?..."

"What?..."

Dawn having been reluctantly released by Buffy to go shopping with Olive for …Anything else, as Dawn put it…And Xander and Andrew busy on phone making contact with Giles' Council agents in Rome…Buffy had been attempting to express her delight at a century of progress among the races and religions…

Thought she'd seemed leery of using the lavatory on the plane after that black girl had used it…Willow thought…

Yes, indeed…So nice there'd been no polite suggestion by dear Giuseppe that Miss Rosenberg might find accommodations in the Jewish ghetto of Rome more to her liking…

"I was here when the new Italian government began closing the ghetto…And heartily approved, you know…"

"Hey…" Dawn waved…

Oh, good God…Buffy put a hand to her mouth on seeing her sister's new dress…Which Dawn had insisted on wearing immediately…

After all the trouble I've taken to try and elevate the girl to some semblance of decent standards…

Dawn dropped her bags… "Wait till you see what else I got…" she grinned… "Olive knows those Italian shops…"

"Thank you, niece…" Buffy glared at the sheepish Olive…Likewise bearing bags…

"Anyway…Willow…" she returned to the matter at hand… "I shouldn't wish you to think…"

"That's nice…" Willow nodded… "So you don't mind us living among you…Nice…"

Ummn…

Dawn eyed Olive…Olive, Dawn…

"Now, Ms. Rosenberg...I will have you know I have...Had...have had...Many friends of the Hebrew faith..."

"Uh-huh..." Willow stared...

"In case it doesn't fit a cultural reference you're familiar with, that means I'm waiting..." she explained...

Oh...

"Well...There was a bookseller...I frequented...Often...Very sweet man with a stubby beard...Judah...Something...And we often had Mr. Benjamin Disraeli at the house..." arch look...

"England's most powerful politician tolerated in your ambitious father's home...Keep going..."

Oh, God…Dawn sighed…First she kept calling that waiter in Sacramento, boy…Now this…

My sis is a racist?…

"Ummn..."

Xander and Andrew were heading over…

"Nice duds…" Xander nodded to Dawn… "She have her fit yet?..."

"Yes…" Buffy glared… "Lets all run naked in the streets…Like the pagans of the ancient times in this city…How did your telephoning go?..."

"We have made contact…" Andrew announced formally…

"Good…Oh!...Jonathan!..." Buffy stood up... "Yes!...How could I forget?...Well, I have forgotten so much...But dear Jonathan Levinson..."

Ummn...Willow blinked...

Uh-oh...Xander eyed Dawn...

Then again...On the other hand...Hooray... Our Buffy is back...

Though maybe best not to mention why Jonathan wasn't here to greet her return after that nice remembering him...

In fact...I might prefer not to reflect on why that little nerd's memory should have brought her...

'Eye on the Prize'…And maybe some episodes of 'I'll Fly Away'…Dawn thought… That might do it…

"Buffy..." Willow, carefully...All minor racial slurs and intolerances erased and forgiven in the sad moment... "Jonathan isn't with us anymore..."

"Of course not..." Buffy frowned... "Poor lamb must have been dead for sixty years unless he was vamped...My God..." she eyed them, hand to mouth... "He wasn't...Here?...Transformed...?"

"Ummn...Buffy..." Willow glanced about…No one close…

"Oh, my poor Mr. Levinson...He was such a good, sweet man...You know I did consider his suit, Willow..." she nodded... "Quite seriously...He was the best of the crop until William came..."

"Buffy..." Willow waved hands...Soothing voice, as Xander stared...

Did she like that Levinson guy?...Dawn stared in turn…Maybe some hope…Oh, right...The umbrella thing...Thoughtful nod...Must be a buried Buf memory resurfacing..

Sexual symbolism...She nodded to herself...Just like that story in Psych class...Always the most powerful memories…

"Oh, my...Did I?...You know...Buffy?...Stake him?..." Buffy asked...

"...Buffy...No...Jonathan is a Buffy memory..." Willow explained, carefully... "He lived in our time...One of our friends...Well, Andrew's friend... But he was very nice, as you seem to remember...Honey, I'm so..."

Wait...Suit?...

"What?..." Buffy stared... "Lived in your time?...Jonathan?...He was my father's barrister's junior partner...What do you mean, lived in your time?...Are you people trying to be amusing?..."

"Your father's barrister's what?..." Willow blinked...Xander waving Olive in...

"His partner...And one of my suitors..." Buffy, triumphant air... "You see, I...Had a Hebrew suitor..." arch look at Willow again...Slight swagger of the head...

"And found him quite charming, I might add..."

"It couldn't be..." Willow looked at Dawn who looked at Xander who looked at Olive...Then looked at himself in the mirror on the wall across...

She dated Jonathan Levinson?...

"Ancestor, maybe?..." Willow suggested...

Doesn't take the pain away, Xander sighed to his image...

Yes, I'm sorry, An…

"Would someone please explain what the problem is to me?..." Buffy asked... "Has someone raised Mr. Levinson from the dead or something?..." Willow frowning as Xander eyed her, catching her eye in turn...Hey, I be clean over two years now…

"Nah, Willow hasn't tried raising from the dead since you…" Dawn waved a hand… "He was our own Johnny…" Another wave…

That he was…Andrew sighed sadly in his chair…Oh…

"Oh…You mean had a Jonathan Levinson here?..." Buffy asked... "Hmmn...Well, surely mine could have been an ancestor...Yes…How nice..." she beamed... "But he's not with you now...?"

"Afraid not..." Willow shook her head...

Wait...Buffy tensed...

Raised from the dead...?...These people can raise from the dead?...

I mean...She eyed the group staring at her...These people...?

Sound of sobbing now...

"Andrew, can it..." Dawn called...

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part IX...

Lobby of the Hotel Piazza di Spagna, Rome

"So...Mr. Giles' people will contact the Immortal...?" Buffy frowned... "I think I'd prefer a direct approach..."

"Mr. Giles said there was no direct way to reach the Immortal unless we wanted to wait three weeks for an appointment with one of his junior staff..." Andrew noted... "Via the Council's connections we get in quick...Assuming he'll see us..."

She shook her head... "And Mr. Giles keeps his finger in the pie...Everything through his people..."

"Buffy...He's concerned for us..." Willow, soothingly... "He just wants to know what's going on..."

"Andrew is here, he makes his reports...Don't you, Mr. Wells?..."

"Without fail, Mrs. W..."

Dawn, slight frown from her chair at the 'Mrs. W...'...

"Mr. Giles seems a tad overprotective to me..." Buffy insisted... "If I take his motives in the most positive light…"

"Buf...The Council's still in bad shape...He might not be able to help if his boys don't keep close..." Xander...

"I have to agree, Cicely..." Olive nodded from her chair... "We've no reason to distrust Mr. Giles' motives at this time..."

Dawn's frown deepening...

"I thought we all agreed to remember my sis' name is Buffy..." she groused...

"Yes...Sorry..." Olive, apologetic... "I meant no offense, Dawn..."

"Lets just remember who's who..."

Buffy giving Olive a reassuring look... "Dawn is right...It's my fault for using the name here...It was a slip and I apologize, Dawn..."

"Sure..." Dawn looked out at the street...

"Anyway...I still think we might try to reach Henri a bit faster...I'm sure he'd see me if we went out to his villa..."

"Buffy, I think we oughta take it slow...The man...Or whatever...Hasn't seen you in a century..." Willow noted... "And if you don't resemble Cicely a lot more than you've been suggesting..."

"He'll know me..." Buffy shook her head...

"Buf...We've gone along with you this far...And we'll go further..." Xander, carefully... "But we gotta trust in Giles too a little...At least until he gives us reason not to...And you do too...Lets do it his way, for this one time..."

"Would give you a chance to show us Rome..." Willow suggested... "Come on...You can even show me where they used to lock up my guys every night..."

Dawn rolling eyes…Buffy pondering, white-gloved fingers tapping each other nervously…

"Well...You have all been very supportive...I do appreciate it..." Buffy nodded at last... "But...If I feel...Uncomfortable…With anything Mr. Giles arranges..." she eyed them...

"No one will make you go ahead unless you feel ok about it..." Willow nodded... "But Giles won't let you down..."

"Perhaps not..." Buffy said quietly... "But someone on the Council might..."

"You still think the Council's gunning for you...?" Xander asked... "After all this time...And with the First's having wiped up the floor with them...?"

"I doubt they're in quite so bad shape as that, Sandler...The Council has survived much worse..." Buffy, thoughtfully... "Simon always used to say...They were burrowed in everywhere...And nothing short of the end of the world could ever destroy their grip..."

Willow eyed Xander a bit anxious...Not the best attitude for the reconciliation thing...

"If you could still trust Simon..." she noted...

Buffy looked at her...Then at her hands, gloved fingers rubbing together...

"That's just it..." she said finally...Not meeting their stares… Quietly regarding her nervous fingers…

Willow looking at Xander...

"Well...Enough of this...You're right...Best to let Mr. G. play his hand...And see what results…" Buffy rose, adjusting her large hat and frowning at the passing women in the street...Doesn't anyone wear hats anymore?... "Why don't we go and see how much of the place I can still remember?...Dawn?..."

Mr. G?...Xander eyed Willow...Who shrugged...Least she's not sneaking off to find Henri...

Definitely not our Buffy...Both thought, sadly...

"Yeah..." flat response from Dawn...

"If you must wear that...Button up a little, please..."

Arggh...Eye roll...But reluctantly, compliance...

"Off we go, children..." Buffy offered an arm to Xander, the other to Andrew...

"Now...You have not seen Rome until you've seen St. Peter's..." she thumbed at her guidebook, arms still locked in her, as she noted, gallant chaperones'...

Seven hours later...

Never...Never...Never...Willow groaned to herself...Struggling to keep up with the bubbling Buffy, eagerly enthusing to Andrew...Who was now simply being dragged along, mostly dead weight on her arm...On the wonders of the Sistine Chapel...

Never...Go sightseeing in a major city with a Slayer...She turned to urge on the lagging Olive, stumbling up a small flight of stairs after them...Xander behind her...

Dawn somehow keeping up gamely with Buffy and Andrew, though...She noted wearily...

Indeed Dawn seemed determined, grimly even, to do so...Her new dress heavily sweat-stained now...

"Everyone stay together..." Buffy called... "Willow?...Are you all right?..."

"F..fine...Buf..." she said, gasping a bit...

"Think Dawn...Might...Need a...Break, though..."

"I'm fine..." Dawn said...Swaying a bit but gritting her way through...

"Yes..." Buffy eyed her... "We'd best stop a moment..."

"I'm fine...Les go..." Dawn frowned, waving a weary hand...

Andrew, at least released, falling to the floor, wheezing...

"Mr. Wells?...Are you all right?..." Buffy stared...

"Oh...Yes...Ma'am…" Andrew put up a hand... "Need...A...Moment..." He crept to a bench and sat...

"Well, in any case..." Buffy beamed.. "If you'll look over there...Through there is where the great Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine...Breathtaking, even from here, isn't it...?"

"Oh...Yeah..." Xander gasped...

"Dawn...?" Buffy looked her over... "I think you'd better sit with me a moment..."

Dawn put up a hand... "I'm fine..." And stumbled over to look at the rear wall of the chapel...

"That's not the best..." Buffy called... "...View..." She eyed Xander, who nodded and went toward where Dawn was sourly scanning the lesser artworks...

"Give her a mo, Buf..." Willow had reached her...And sat, panting a bit...

"What am I to do with her, Willow?..." Buffy sat as well...

"Some water...She'll be..."

"You know what I mean..." Buffy frowned...

"Don't press her...Give her some space..."

She regarded Willow…"She hates me, doesn't she...?"

"Nah...They're all like that at her age...We were..."

"But I wasn't, Willow..." Buffy, wan smile... "I'm not the Buffy who was like that..."

And she's never going to forgive me...For not being that Buffy...

"How about you...?" she eyed Willow... "Can you forgive me?..."

"Nothing to..." Willow said carefully... "So long as it wasn't your fault..."

Buffy sighed...Straightening her hat...

"It wasn't Willow...You believe that?..."

"I want to..." Willow nodded... "You do seem like a good person...And your story checks so far..."

"Thanks..." wan smile... "I know you feel I've stolen your friend away..."

"I loved Buf...I won't lie and say I like her being gone...It's not fair...Still...You've had your own share of misery, I know..."

"I wish I could be Buffy...For all of you..." she sighed... "I wish I could pull up one memory for you and for Dawn...I have tried, you know..."

"It's only been a few days..." Willow noted... "For all we know, it is organic and you'll..."

"Go away quietly and let Buffy come home..." Buffy smiled again...

"I don't mean it that way..."

"I don't know why I'm here, Willow...Truly...At first I thought...I must be here to be with William...To save him, perhaps...But..." she shrugged... "It seems Fate is always laughing at us..."

Still...She leaned back a bit... "I can't give him up...Not quite yet..."

"His soul's alive..." Willow noted... "Wherever he went after Sunnydale..."

"And I should follow..." Buffy smiled... "Perhaps...Yes...When I have some answers...And can be sure..."

"We don't want you to hurt yourself...Cicely..." Willow, hastily... "We're ready to wait as long as it takes for you to do whatever it is you're here to do...If you'll just promise not to do anything that will hurt Buffy..."

"Thank you..." she smiled..."But Dawn's wishes should be respected...Buffy it is..."

"Right..." Willow smiled back... "Except maybe...Just now and then, between us..."

Smile...Then a cloudiness... "Willow?...What if it's forever...?...My whole life...Buffy's...?...And William gone, too..."

"I don't know..." Willow shook her head... "We'll...Just...Find a way to deal...And William will find you...Somewhere...I tell ya, that guy just doesn't know when to quit..."

"That's for certain..." Buffy grinned... "And neither do I...Thanks...Best Hebrew friend..." she patted Willow...Who grinned back...Shaking her head...Oy...

"Dawn?..." Buffy rose...Dusting her long skirt off... "You have to see the ceiling properly..."

"Great..." Dawn frowned...

"One of the colossal works of Roman Imperial civilization, the baths of Caracalla, built by the emperor of the same name…" Buffy noted… Dawn looking grim by her side…

A number of tourists in the crowd now collected about her…Clearly assuming the young woman to be a guide…Her dress certainly suggestive of it…

"She has a built-in career, at least…" Willow noted to Xander as Buffy eagerly fielded questions…The legitimate guides frowning at her…

"If the tour guide Mafia doesn't bump her off by days' end…" he replied, glaring at one young guy shaking his fist at the interloper…

"Can you speak to Dawn, Xander?..." Willow asked… "Get her to bring it down a little?..."

"Already tried…She has a point, Wil…It's not Buffy over there…" he said quietly…

"I thought you agreed we'd give her a chance…" she looked at him…

Andrew standing in crowd, observing all and sundry with admirable Watcher candidate thoroughness…Sucking on his Yoohoo obtained at Buffy's insistence after considerable search on hearing it pronounced as his favorite beverage…Olive next to him…

"We're here…Doesn't mean we have to drop our guard…"

"And I have?..."

"Didn't say that, Wil…But you know Giles said to be careful with her…"

"I want Buffy back as much as you, you know…"

"I know…" he nodded… "And I like Cicely too…But lets face it…One of them will have to go in the end…"

"Unless…" Willow began… "You were the one who said she might be Cicely…Buffy, I mean…Might be Cicely…Just not having remembered before…"

"Yeah…And if she is…What happens to the Buffy we knew…?"

"Well…Buffy with a little extra…Once she gets her memories of now back…"

"Maybe…" he sighed…

"Even the floors were heated by air from the furnaces below…" Buffy was explaining…

"But is that…?" he shrugged Buffy's way…

"I see a lot of Buffy in her, Xander…" Willow tried… "You do too…"

"Sometimes…" he nodded… "But lets not let her get too comfortable in Buf's place, Wil…After all, she may only be Cicely…And we may have to get rid of her…Maybe the hard way…"

"I know…" Willow sighed…Looking over…

Hey…She stared…

Group now followed Buffy's lead into the back chambers…

"She knows her Roman…" Xander noted…

"Xander…She's supposed to stay out where we can…She's slipping out on us…Come on!..." she pulled at Xander's arm…

"She and Dawn were at the head of the group…" Andrew shook his head… "I looked to scan the crowd for any potential threats and they were gone…"

"Olive's gone too…" Xander frowned… "You're right, Wil…They gave us the slip…"

"But Dawn wouldn't go with them, would she?..." Willow asked… "Unless…"

"Hostage situation?..." Andrew inquired… "Should I contact Mr. Giles?..."

"She wouldn't…" Willow shook her head… "Dawn must've agreed to go…"

"And we were thinking she wasn't acting like Buf…" Xander, wan smile… "You're right, Wil…Sometimes, she's definitely there…So now what?...Do we call Giles?..."

"I guess so…I don't know how else to find the Immortal…And she must have gone looking for him…"

"He has a villa just outside the city…" Andrew noted… It was in Buffy's guide book, he explained…

"I thought Cicely was gonna follow the program…And that she was much too polite to try and go over without a formal invitation…"

"I appreciate this very much, Dawn…" Buffy eyed her as the cab containing her, Dawn, and Olive made its tortuous way through late afternoon Roman traffic…

"I'm not letting you out of my sight…" Dawn replied… "This better be worth it…Xander and Willow are going to be pissed…Not to mention Giles if he hears about it…"

"I couldn't wait any longer…And I just don't trust the Council…" Buffy sighed…

Dawn was silent…

"We won't let Buffy come to harm, Dawn…" Olive noted… "But she may be right about the Council…Not that Rupert is involved, necessarily, but…"

"Why should they care, now?..." Dawn frowned… "It's over…You and Will are dead and buried, a century ago…"

"The Council has a long memory…And Mr. Giles had instructions to deal with William if he returned…" Buffy pointed out… "He admitted to you he's lied…"

"You lie…" Dawn shrugged… "You just tricked the one person who's come to trust you…Willow…And you knew all along where to find the Immortal…"

"I never said to her I wouldn't try…And I'm only hoping to find Henri here…He could be at any of dozens of places he owns about here…This is just the one I found in the guide book…"

"What's so special about him, anyway?...He's a vamp, right?..."

"Of sorts…A special one though…" Buffy noted… "Even before I helped him…"

"Hope so…You've gambled a lot on this one…" Dawn frowned…

"I'll explain to Willow and Sandler…They'll understand…"

"Sure…Why not?...They like you…But don't count on me clearing things for you…"

Olive watching, worriedly…

"I know I've been hard on you, Dawn..." Buffy sighed... "Try to understand...All this...Is so hard for me to master, I've not been able to resist trying to rebuild a little of my own world with us...I promise I will try to be a little easier from now on..."

"That's not it..." Dawn shook her head...

"The problem is..." she looked at Buffy sadly... "I'm getting to like you...And I can't let myself like you..."

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part X...

Villa de L' Immortale de Roma...

Well, the antique hand-chiseled stone plaque means what it says...Dawn reflected...As she and Buffy watched Olive at the villa's street entrance from across the street in a small café...

"You see all the ancient homes used to open right on the street so the patron's clientela could be gathered for all to see the prestige and power of..." Buffy happily continued her Roman tour lecture... "Right..." Dawn nodded...

What I get for feeling bad about hurting her feelings on the way over...she sighed inwardly...

"I am sorry, Madame..." a dark-haired, ancient servant, at said villa entrance, an equally ancient work of art in itself, the man bearing what would have been a remarkable resemblance to the Immortal's servant who'd confronted and been duly killed by Angelus over a century earlier, had anyone from that meeting been present to recognize the fact…

Cut to shot of Spike, in rather William outfit, and Angelus in 1894…Both manacled and chained to the ceiling of what appears to be a barn..Attempting to break free, they curse the name of the Immortal as suddenly the door opens and a man in a suit arrives, backed by men with crossbows…Cautiously releasing them the man apologizes on behalf of His Benevolence, the Immortal, before explaining they were detained as punishment for acts they committed against His concerns...Angelus insisting in turn that it is their city, they were here first, but the man informs them that the Immortal was, hundreds of years ago, and they are to leave Rome and never return..Unimpressed, Angelus snaps his neck and warns off the others and as they leave he tells Spike there is going to be a reckoning with this new menace…Soon…

The servant sighed to Olive...

"His Benevolence is not at home...But I will pass on your message...Good day..."

"Mrs. Walthrop, please remember..." Olive stressed...

"Indeed, Mrs. Walthrop..." he nodded...

"I should have gone..." Buffy, nervously watching from their table... "It's too dangerous for Olive..."

"You both agreed she looks more like you...Her...Than you...Or at least more like a Walthrop..." Dawn noted... " 'Sides I thought you said Henry was a great guy..."

"Henri...And he's not the one I'm afraid of..." Buffy glanced up and down the street, then back to where Olive was reluctantly turning away as the old gentleman closed the door gently but firmly...

"Good...Here she comes..." she rose...

"If you mean Giles..." Dawn frowned... "I wish you'd get off this kick...Giles may have followed some stupid Council orders with William but he'd never hurt us...Or you...You act like the Council is some kind of Murder, Inc...Or Wolfram-Hart..."

"Hurting William or trying to is hurting me...Besides, I've seen the Council at its worst...Did you ever suspect that your souled version of Angelus would join that other evil band?..." Buffy eyed her...

"We still don't know what Angel's up to...And sure, Angelus would in a sec...But he's not Angelus and Giles isn't some kind of Professor Moriarty with assassins armed with air..."

She blinked at the glass which had suddenly shattered in her hand...

"Down!..." Buffy yanked her under the table...The other patrons looking at them, startled...A few rising...Staff likewise in confusion...Calls for police...A nervous headwaiter or manager racing for their table...

"Professor Who?..." Buffy stared at the shaken Dawn...

"You're sure about this Wil?..." Xander eyed Willow as the cab bearing him and Willow...Andrew assigned to 'hold fort' at the hotel and field any calls from Giles...Pulled out into the Roman evening traffic... "Giles will have a fit that we didn't contact him the moment Buffy ran out on us..."

"We know she went to find the Immortal, Xander...I'm mad at her but I don't want Giles riled up any more than he is already over her...Not yet, anyway...God, how could she be so…?"

Buffy…Neither she nor Xander had to say…Wry grin between them…

"And if this is a trick...Cicely or whoever leading us on...The Immortal a part of it?"

"He'll have a field day saying he told us so...Even if he has to do it at our gravesites..."

"Are you absolutely sure you're all right?..." Buffy again asked Olive who'd returned to find considerable consternation at the café and her 'aunt' of sorts with Dawn now sheltering cautiously within...The manager nervously eyeing them from time-to-time and periodically renewing offers to call a doctor, police, which Buffy tactfully declined...

"Yes...Fine...But what or who do you think...?"

"Lord knows...Buffy's...William's...My own enemies..." Buffy shook her head...

"In any case someone who knew we were coming to see the Immortal..." she noted...

Damnation...She eyed her ruined left glove...A total loss, though fortunately stained only with wine from her own glass, shattered in turn by part of Dawn's...Decent hand-made ones like these weren't easy to find in this benighted era...

"Dawn, you're all right?..." Olive asked...

"Yeah, sure…It was just a glass...Buffy...It couldn't have been Giles...He didn't know we were going straight over..."

"I didn't say it was..." Buffy said, looking over across the street... "But he and his people knew we would be coming eventually...And no one else did..."

"That we know of...And it coulda been an accident...Something hitting my glass..."

Buffy eyed her...

"Well, this is Italy..." Dawn shrugged... "Maybe we got in the path of a Mafia hit..."

" 'could have been', Dawn...There's never a need to let your grammar slip...Mafia?..."

"Crime families...Italian...We'll watch 'The Godfather' when we have a chance, you'll get the idea..."

"Hmmn..." Buffy nodded... "You mean like the Sicilian clans...Vendetta..."

"Yeah, actually..."

"I doubt it..." she looked round... "I've fought the demon variety in my day...They always leave a calling card so the victim's people know who did it...No point in going to the trouble of a public killing without taking responsibility, instilling fear...Besides...No one else has tried to flee the place..."

"I suppose..." Dawn shrugged...

"What about this Professor of yours...?" Buffy suggested... "He sounded dangerous..."

Professor?...Olive stared...

"Scusi..." a tall young man of perhaps thirty had come over to them, dressed in workman's clothes of dark, heavy shirt with tawny, stained old vest, crushed soft old cap, features brown from long hours in the sun... "Signorinas...?"

"The gardener from the villa..." Olive noted... "He was working in the front when I went to the door..." He gave a gracious smile and nod...

Not bad...Dawn looked the guy over...Kinda cute actually...An Italian Jude Law but for the rather rough, dirt-stained clothes...The man smiling at her briefly now...Late sun glinting a bit on his dark hair...

Hmmn...Quite not bad...

"Excuse me for intruding, ladies..." he'd switched to flawless English... "I saw what happened from across the way...Are you ladies all right?..." he looked at them...Eyeing each in turn...Settling on Olive for a long moment before returning to Buffy...

"Quite..." Buffy smiled at him...Straightening her hat and extending her still-gloved right hand...

"And how are you, Henri?..."

The Immortal, now in casual yet elegant white suit...Probably costing more than our old house, Dawn thought, smiled to the elderly attendant now bringing in a tray, glasses, and what he apologized for as a wine hardly fitting for the occasion...

"Gratzi, Giovanni..." he nodded...

Not you...Buffy frowned at Dawn as she reached for a glass... "Water for the young lady, Giovanni..." she noted to the elderly man who moved a napkin on his tray to reveal a glass already on hand...

Dawn frowning in turn...

"I only wish I'd known for sure today would be the day..." Henri smiled, lifting glass... "But we'll open the best with dinner..."

"To the reunion of old friends..." he toasted...

"...And those who cannot be with us for now..." a quiet nod to Buffy...

"Thank you, Henri..." Buffy smiled... "I was afraid I might not find you in Rome...Sorry I didn't feel safe sending a messenger or telephoning you directly..."

"I knew you were coming, Cicely...Thanks to your Mr. Giles...So I kept close to town..." he looked at her...

"You look...Much too thin..." he shook his head...

"It seems the fashion nowadays..." Buffy shook hers, shrugging... "But let me introduce my family properly...My sister, Dawn Summers...My great-great-great-grandniece, Olive...Amelia's side of the family..."

"Sweet Amelia..." he nodded... "Yes, I see the resemblance..." he turned to Dawn...

"And you as well...Dawn...You have her eyes and mouth...Though the rest is Cicely's..."

Sorry...He waved a hand at her stare... "For me, it's only a day since I watched them together...A moment since I stood with Henry at dear Amelia's grave..."

Cicely's...? I look like Cicely...? Dawn blinked...

Of course Spike did tease me that time when Halfreck was trying to get a wish out of me... "No wonder she's a shine to you, Nibs...You could be her lil' vengeance bundle..." But I'd thought he was kiddin'...

"You see it too..." Buffy nodded... "I'm sure it means something...Buffy...I...Must have a physical connection to Cicely...As well as spiritual..."

"You've not confirmed the nature of your return?..." he asked...

"Mr. Giles is doing his best to find me a spirit...Demonic if possible, evil hopefully, possessive undoubtedly...But the jury is still out on just what I am..." Buffy shrugged... "Coming to see you is no small part of determining just what and who I am now..."

Henri eyed her a moment...

"What makes you so sure she's Cicely?..." Dawn asked... "Even if you knew her well and I look like her, Buffy's completely..."

"I suspected Buffy Summers was the one I've been awaiting since the day I saw her picture in London, during a Council presentation...You'd just become the Slayer..." he smiled faintly at Buffy..."It was clear you were young and as frightened as all Slayers initially are by your summoning...But there was something about your face, your carriage...The look of a woman, not a child...And a woman who understood what she faced, at least on some instinctive level..."

"Not to mention...You were still clearly obsessed with fashion...Though your tastes had changed to suit your new era..."

"Oh..." Buffy mock-frowned... "You, William, Henry...Will every man I have respect for eternally dismiss me as a shallow clothes-horse?..."

"She was trying on hats the day she died...I thought I would never get her out of that milliner's shop and to the hospital...Poor woman who ran the place was trembling for fear she'd have the baby right there..."

Buffy was silent after a brief smile at the start...

"Cicely, that was thoughtless of me, I'm sorry..." Henri sighed...

"It's just a day or two for me too, Henri..." Buffy smiled wanly...Dawn glancing to Olive, a troubled look…

"Scusi, Your Benevolence..." Giovanni had crept in... Henri nodding, the ancient retainer came to him, whispering...

"I would guess Mr. Harris and Miss Rosenberg are here..." Buffy sighed to Dawn and Olive... "I suppose I should expect fireworks?..."

"Just be glad her magics battery pooped a bit when she fired up all those Slayers..." Dawn noted... "After all, she probably would have kicked your butt last time you two faced off if she hadn't sent you after Andy and Jonathan..."

"Really?..." Buffy stared...

Slightest gleam in her eye after Dawn had turned to look where Xander and a rather furious-looking Willow were entering the room...

Kicked a Slayer's whatever….Raised from the dead…Sounds like the 'best friend' I need…

"Angry?..." Willow gave a snort... "Hoping mad, you mean...Damnit, Buffy, you promised me...I vouched with Giles for your good behavior...Hi, Willow Rosenberg..." she greeted the Immortal who seemed far more interested in Xander, though he politely welcomed her...Graciously noting that the reputation of her work with the Slayer's team preceded her…

"Willow, I'm truly sorry, but I had to..Uncanny, isn't it..." Buffy returned to Henri... "Sandler could be Henry's twin..."

"You're sure he's not...?..." Henri asked...

"Sandler, are you my cousin Henry's twin...?" she grinned at Sandler...er Xander...

"Not that I know of, Buffy..." Xander shook his head...Willow still frowning... Had to?...

"There...Must be a coincidence..." Buffy nodded...

"You know I meant a descendant, my girl..." Henri, reprovingly...

"No...Sandler checked...Didn't you Sandler?..." Buffy shook her head... "His family has no Foxcroft connections..."

"Remarkable...Put by one who has seen a deal of remarkable things..." Henri grinned at Xander... "Forgive our discussing you as if you weren't in front of us, Mr. Harris...Henry Foxcroft was a good friend...And a fine man...I would trade a great deal of my years to come to have him back..."

But...He smiled... "I know your record with Ms. Summers and it's obvious Cicely finds you at least Henri's spiritual descendant...I hope that you'll allow me to get to know you..."

"I was lucky to find him here...And Willow and Dawn and Olive, too..." Buffy hastily noted...

"That actually always intrigued me about Ms. Summers..." Henri, thoughtfully... "Her family and friends...As if she were trying to live the life you had always wished to have, Cicely..."

"Indeed...And I do appreciate it..." glance Willow's way...

"Yeah?...Would be nice if you acted like it..." Willow fumed...

"Dear Willow..." Buffy patted her... "Considering what happened just a short while ago outside, I'd say my caution in keeping part of our people safe while I made contact was not unjustified..."

"Somebody may have taken a shot at us..." Dawn explained...

"What?...Who? Are you sure?..." Willow stared...

"First...Some sort of air gun, Dawn thinks..." Buffy noted...

Just a guess...Dawn frowned... "I'm not one of those CSI guys who could probably tell you the make and year from the way the dust in the air currents moved..."

"Yes…" Buffy stared…'CSI guys'?... "As to who..."

"I don't want to hear it without real proof, Buffy..." Dawn waved a hand… "I can't say for the rest of the Council, but Giles is our friend..."

"I didn't say 'Giles'...Specifically..." Buffy noted...

"He may not be for much longer if you keep pulling stunts like this…" Willow, annoyed… "I don't see the need for you to have run off like this Buf…I'd say we have at least as much reason to distrust you as you do Giles…"

"I had to know it was safe…" Buffy insisted… "Putting Dawn and Olive in danger…?" Willow eyed her…

"If I could have gone without them I would have…But until I'm legally recognized as Cicely Walthrop or Dawn gives me the information to access our bank accounts…Dawn and Olive control all my funds…And they insisted on coming…"

Darn tootin'…Dawn nodded…Not that there's exactly much to access under the Summers name…

"I felt it was safer going suddenly than awaiting Mr. Giles' arrangements…I'm sorry…Sandler, I apologize to you too…"

"It's Xander…I should tell him, you know…" Willow began…

"Sorry…" Buffy, a bit crestfallen, to Xander… "I hope you know I mean no…"

"I don't mind…" Xander smiled, waving it off… "It's nice to freshen things up nicknamewise every now and then…But Willow's right, Buffy…If you want our trust…"

"I do…I'm not much used to operating with others, you know…" she sighed… "Henry helped me at times but only after Will died did he know about my little 'career'… I'm used to having only Simon's help…And not generally in the field… Henri was only with me at the very end…I've always relied on my own judgment…"

Not always with success, obviously…she smiled wanly…

"If you don't want our help…" Willow, coolly…

"I do…I do desperately, Willow…I only say this to try and make you understand why it may be hard for me at times to turn to others…After all, all of this began, fundamentally, because I did want a family…Friends…Beside me…I'd fought alone for years and I hated it…The thought of dying alone…Unloved…Not even to have begun a life before I died somewhere…At some thing's hands…" she regarded them…

"But the consequences of my…Selfishness…Were so devastating…" she paused…

"It was never your fault, Cicely…" Henri shook his head… "And no one, particularly William, blames you…"

"Not wishing to interrupt a nice reunion...But how did you meet...?" Willow asked...

"Pretty much the usual way of Slayers and vampires..." Henri grinned, Buffy returning a smile...

"But this is a tale for our dinner...Come, my friends..." He rose, extending an arm to Dawn which she took just a bit hesitantly at Buffy's nod..."My people have spent the last two days since Mr. Giles contacted my office in Rome trying to think up something suitable and I have no doubt it will be memorable..."

That could always serve as a good "Hello, I'm the big bad, welcome to the trap" speech...Xander noted to Willow as they followed behind Olive and Buffy...Dawn and Henri leading the way...

"Indeed…And watch out for the trap door...The mosaic in the hallway just ahead...It used to be quite a lure for the unwary…" Henri called back to them merrily...

"And it was too..." Buffy noted... "You still have the crocodiles?..."

"Sadly they were not Immortal...But I did donate their offspring to a preserve in Egypt, they being authentic Egyptian crocodiles..."

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XI...

1871...

Villa de L' Immortale de Roma...Not actually looking that much different than in June 2003, though perhaps the street outside a bit less garbage strewn with carriages, carts, and people choking the streets rather than autos, scooters, and people...The people themselves a bit more ragged...Though the women decently veiled or hatted...

"Miss..." a much younger version...His doomed great-great-great-grandfather in fact...Of Giovanni eyeing the rather elegantly dressed if also rather forward and naturally, being so forward, young and equally naturally, foreign…And undoubtedly, British…Girl at the door...

"Jones..." Cicely nodded...Pressing a bit... "I really must see your master, sir...I promise you the matter is quite urgent...Life and death..."

"It is always life and death, Miss..." the younger Giovanni sighed...Come now... "Jones...But I regret to tell you once again, His Benevolence is not at home..."

"To visitors in general, I'm sure...But as my card indicates, I am here on behalf of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and Librarians, sir..."

"You seem rather young if one may say so, Miss, to be representing such an organization..."

"I think you'll find His Benevolence will consent to receive me..."

"My orders, Miss...Are to admit no one today..."

"I see..." Cicely threw the villa's ancient door back with a violent swipe, hurling Giovanni back down against the hallway wall... "Well, that makes things much easier, then..."

"Pardon me..." she nodded to his unconscious form...

"Young lady..." a weary voice from the darkness... "That was most ungracious...The poor man I assure you was only doing his duty...And is, after all, only human..."

"My apologies..." Cicely peered down the hallway...Fumbling for...Drat...Damned fool jacket always catches...Ah, good ole Dickens...Her favorite stake... "But he's still alive...Which may be more than he deserves, employed as he is by you..."

"A rather harsh judgement on a faithful servant's character, Miss..." the voice replied..."I for one would be amazed to learn of anything more than a bit of gambling in Giovanni's confessions..."

"You are the Immortal, I take it..." she called...

"Henri Faucomb d'Vestigy...Comte d'Vestigy...As of 1623 and at least until I wish again to make a change...At your service, young lady..."

"Hardly, I'd say..." she halted...Hesitating to press into the dark...No sign of light beyond that coming in behind from the street...

"Miss...Jones, was it?...My apologies for the lack of hospitality...I have indeed been indisposed today...To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit...?"

"You know very well, sir...The Council of Watchers has sent me to inform you that as a result of your recent actions, their agreement with you..."

"Yes?..." Henri smiled, startling her as he stepped out of the dark to her...She hadn't even sensed him moving in...His brown, deep eyes on her...

She dropped a step or two back, stake raised... "...is terminated..." she continued... "As a result of your own actions..."

"You are very young, my girl..." he smiled at her... "You can't be more than what, sixteen?..."

"Fifteen, sir...But I assure you, quite capable..."

"As I have heard..." he nodded... "So..." he sighed... "Your Council has decided to end our truce...That is a great pity..."

"For you, sir...However, it was at your ..." she eyed him carefully as he stepped slightly to the side...

"Pardon me...I've no wish to alarm you...Is it alright if I light a lamp?...It must be rather dark for you in here..."

She waved nervously, stepping back...

He struck a lucifer match and used it to light an oil lamp hanging in a small alcove off the hallway...His black suit gleaming a bit in the light…Rather dazzlingly white shirt with a single rather antique pin or brooch of some sort as used as stick pin catching her eye…

"That's better...Now, would you mind if I saw to poor Giovanni?..."

"By all means..." she watched him as he moved to the unconscious figure...The pictures Simon showed me do not do him justice…

"Poor fellow...You should be careful with humans, Miss Addams...They aren't as unbreakable as they may seem at times...Ah, Giovanni..." he patted the now coughing young servant...

A nervous glance...Addams?... "Jones…" she tried correcting…He not heeding as he looked Giovanni over…

"Pardon, your Benevolence..." apologetic look...Slight frown Cicely's way...

"Not at all, my friend...Come, you'd best go to the kitchen and have your wife look at you...Miss Addams was a bit overanxious about her mission to see me..." wry look back to Cicely who frowned... "But all's well and we will not need any assistance for the moment...Unless...Miss Addams?...Some tea or a cool drink, perhaps...?"

"No, thank you..." frown...Toying with me, I see...

"Perhaps later...There you are..." he helped the man to his feet… "Have a cup of wine and rest a bit, Giovanni, I will call when we want you..."

"Yes, Your Benevolence...Miss..."

"Sorry..." she called...Giovanni nodding in acknowledgment as he headed down the hallway...

"Sir..." she returned to the task at hand...'Dickens' firmly gripped... "I see you know me?..."

"In your few years, you have carved quite a reputation, my dear...But rest assured..." he shook his rather classically shaped, she had to admit, head... "Only as the mysterious Slayer...Of no name besides that of the 'Miss Jones' your Council has the lamentable lack of imagination to assign to all its ladies...Rather ridiculous in the case of the last Slayer, poor Amara..."

"Then...?"

He offered a paper from his corner...The Times, she saw...Her father, Sir Richard's face prominent...She...Damn...Clear as day beside him on the deck of their ship at the Naples docks...

"My agents had uncovered some information as to your identity but your family's fame proceeds you...Unfortunate for a Slayer..."

"Unfortunate for you, sir...If you mean to threaten my father…My family…"

"Miss Addams..." the Immortal frowned slightly... "If I had wanted to exploit such knowledge about you..."

"You have risked your very existence, sir...I can assure you the Council does not look kindly on your actions..."

"'However'..." he quoted, a wry look... "As you haven't staked me yet, I assume there's some room for negotiation..."

"You have something...Things...Which are Council property, sir...Taken from Council premises...By you..."

"Hardly, Miss...At least as to their being 'Council property'...These items were taken long along from their rightful...Or at least original...Owners..."

"By Slayers, in battle, sir..."

"By Watchers, Miss Addams...Who knew their potential value as your poor predecessors could not..."

"Will you surrender them to me, sir?...And accept confinement to these premises until the Council has deliberated on your fate?..."

"Some, quite willingly, Miss Addams...As they did not turn out to have any value to my purpose...One or two, I must...Regretfully...Retain the use of, for now...As to confinement...Well, in the interests of peace between us...Personally as well as..."

"Unacceptable, sir..."

"That is a pity, young lady...For both of us, I fear...Will you not hear me out as to why I took them?..."

"You may explain to my Watcher and other Council members when they arrive to interview you, sir...For now...I must have those items...All of them..." Cicely tensed...

"Miss Addams..." sigh... "You surely have been informed that I have met in battle with Slayers in the past...Slayers far more experienced..."

Hmmn...He fell back at Cicely's sudden thrust and slash...

"You English girls..." he shook his head... "So bold and forward..."

She whirled but could not quite dodge his blow slamming her back against the wall...

"Miss Addams, I've no wish to add to my record...But do not press my benevolence too far...However my soul may seek to curb my nature I am...What I am, dear girl..." he eyed her as she struggled to her feet, panting heavily...

"And it is a pity to ruin that fine outfit..."

"The Council will pay for it..."

At least...They had better...And before Father sees it...

"Miss Addams, since I am quite willing to return some of the items, can we not call a brief truce?...You may find the ones I wish to retain are of no value to the Council..."

"That is not my business to judge, sir...Surrender all or face the consequences..."

"A harsh tone for a guest to take in my own home..." he frowned, eyeing her as she took defensive stance, tensed... "If you were not so very young, I could be annoyed with you...However..." he shrugged...

"This way..."

She paused, eyeing the dark hallway...

"I regret I cannot have the shutters opened at this time but if you wish me to recall Giovanni to light the hall lamps..."

"That won't be necessary...After you, sir..."

"Are you sure we should not have a chaperone?..." teasing tone now... "I fear for your reputation, miss..."

"My reputation will bear it...Take me...Ummn...To the items..." she hastily added...Avoiding his eyes...

My God, Simon was right about him...He is incredibly...Oh, pull yourself together, girl...She sighed...

"Your Council is very foolish not to undertake to hear me out, miss..." the Immortal paused... "Our truce has been fruitful for all..."

"You should have thought of that before, sir...Indeed, I rather find it horrible that we should have offered a monster...Worse than a monster..." she said, carefully watching...

"...Young lady..."

"A man who voluntarily shares existence with the foulest side of his nature..."

"All men do, to varying extents, miss...But if so foul, all the more reason to take extreme care..."

"Your own reputation proceeds you, sir...I'm quite on guard, believe..." she gasped as the rather lovely mosaic beneath her feet...Of an ancient farmyard scene...Peasant or perhaps slave gently leading a donkey along a path, both man and donkey eyeing the viewer with an amused look...Dropped to one side to reveal an emptiness into which she fell...

"My regrets, miss...But Giovanni did tell you I was not at home to anyone today..." His Benevolence called... "Are you all right, miss?...The fall's not great..."

"DAMN YOU!..." a cry...

"Long ago..." he returned... "You'll find a tunnel passageway to your right, miss...But please mind the stream in the center...It's not only rather deep but I keep it well..."

Scream...

"...Stocked with crocodiles...But they'll have had their midday meal, Miss...Just don't do anything to provoke them..."

"You...Foul!...Stay right there, I'll be with you momentarily, sir!..." cold tone...

He shook his head, grinning...Well..And moved to one side of the hallway past the mosaic, still lowered to reveal the gaping hole to the cavern below..."Just a moment...I would not want you to think I'd lied about returning some items, Miss Addams...:" he reached into a small wall space, pulling out a small black velvet bag...

Watch out below!...he called...Dropping the bag into the cavern space...

"Be careful with those, sir!..."

Low growl...And a bit too low to be quite human he noted...

"Miss Addams, I'd take some care..."

Howl of animal pain...

"...Not to harm the poor beasts..." he concluded... "They're a bit rare, that particular species..."

"As are you, you ...!"

"You have the items?..."

"This will not save you, sir!..." call...

"I hardly expect it to, dear girl...But a promise is a promise...Now, why don't you find your way to the passage and be off before my poor animals must suffer any further..."

Silence...

"Miss Addams?..." he called down, leaning over the open space... "Are you...?"

He blinked as she hopped out of the hole, stake slashing at him...Flipping over in mid air

Impressive...He nodded as she landed on the side of the hallway, arch look...

"I prefer this way...Much faster...And more to the point..." she aimed 'Dickens' at him carefully...An undercut held back as she regarded him...

"Well done..." he beamed... "I am pleased to see your reputation does not do you justice..."

"The rest, sir…" she shook the bag, now hanging by its rope tie off her shoulder…

"As I told you…I still require them…When I have finished with them, I will return them…If it is a matter of concern how I plan to use them…" he paused… "I can assure you they pose no danger to Humanity or your Council in anyone's hands, particularly mine…"

"What, on your word of honor…?" she shook her head… "I'm afraid that has no credit any longer, if it ever did, sir…"

"Enough…" he raised a hand… "You're a charming young lady and it has been a pleasure to meet you, Slayer…But I am really rather weary and would like to be left in peace…Tell your Council I apologize for my action but it was of great personal importance that I borrow the items…And that I did request them previously for services rendered which had to that date gone unrecompensed and was, rather ungraciously, refused…If my visit caused alarm, I doubly apologize but I would point out that no damage was done to human or property…Good day, Miss Addams…"

"Sir, you'll find me…"

She let out a shriek finding him beside her…

"You are a marvelous Slayer, but you still have much to learn before you face one like me in real battle, girl…" he seized her wrist as she tried to bring 'Dickens' up, wrenching stake out of her hand and tossing it aside…She barely managed to wrest loose from his grip, staring at him…Glancing to where 'Dickens' lay now on the other side of the still yawning hole in the floor…

A moment to gather…One leap…

"Leave my home, Miss Addams…" he said quietly…Staring into her face…

Such beautiful eyes…Yes…

No…Damn, Simon warned you…She broke her gaze, swung to the right, barely escaping his quick grasp…Leaping…A quick grab, turn…

"Very well…" he sighed…Shaking his head…

She leapt at him, thrusting with 'Dickens'…A good slam into the chest and…

And…Nothing…She landed and stared at where the stake had entered the chest and remained, about half still visible, the rest plunged deep…

"You were expecting a cloud of dust?..." he gave a wry grin…Pulling the stake out…A bit bloody now…Tossing 'Dickens' back to her…She grabbing the stake up…

"But…" she stared…

"Your Council ought to know by now that I am more than a simple vampire…" he shrugged… "And that I would not have taken this form, risked my Immortal soul, simply to be at the mercy of the first beam of sunlight or young Slayer chancing to cross my path…"

He moved to the side of the hallway…To the little alcove where he'd fetched the oil lamp earlier, which still burned brightly there…And threw open a small window…

"Of course…" he nodded at the light now streaming in…Falling on his exposed hand… "I am not totally free of the restraints of my condition…Light does tend to give me a bit of headache…"

And a stake inserted into the chest, some discomfort…he grinned…

"I hope you do see now, the danger you have been put in, rather thoughtlessly, I would say, by your Council…And the extent of my benevolence in not taking this little skirmish to its conclusion…"

Cicely considered her options…Trying to hold a firm defensive stance…What does one do when all options are exhausted?…

The door…Is that way, Miss…He pointed…

"I'll find my own way, thank you…" she hopped back to the opening in the floor and leapt…

"Miss…"

Growl from below…Followed by howl of pain…

"Miss Addams, please…" he called… "They're not used to visitors besides me…"

"Sorry…" returned...

A rented suite of rooms in an area of Rome for the respectable if not fashionable foreign tourist...

The white-haired man facing Cicely from his chair frowned...As did the two flanking him, one a woman in plain, even severe dress, spectacles perched on nose...Perhaps, given her relative youth, wishing her outfit to confer authority...The other an anxious young man in a suit too heavy for the climate in Rome, moping his perspiring brow frequently...

"You say you made a direct hit...To the heart?..." the white-haired man asked...

"I can't say if I struck his heart exactly, to be sure, Mr. Farris..." Cicely sighed, moving a bit in her own rather uncomfortable wooden chair... "But I know it was my targeted area...It's always worked with these creatures before..."

"You surely must have missed, Cicely..." the woman shook her head... "It was wrong of you to let him panic you like that, girl..."

"I did not panic, Miss Ames..." Cicely glared... "He took a strike to the chest, pulled my stake out, and for good measure demonstrated his ability to withstand sunlight...I followed my training and retreated..."

"I'm sure Miss Addams did what she thought was right..." the nervous young man cut in... "The question is, what do we do now..."

"Yes..." the white-haired Farris leaned back... "That is the question..."

"I think she should confront him again...At once..." Miss Ames insisted... "He has a few clever dodges...She simply has to find the courage to make her strike at an accurate range..."

"I was three feet from him...Mr. Farris, I'm perfectly willing to try again...But I need a weapon effective against him..."

"Nonsense..." Miss Ames began... "Go back and do your Duty, girl..."

"No..." Farris, sternly... "Cicely is quite right...And was right to break off the engagement..." he nodded to her...She trying to conceal her pleasure at his support...Not a frequent occurrence since she'd first been brought to him, Master Watcher Simon Duncan Farris, to begin training for her new calling... "To continue would have been senseless and probably cost us our Slayer..Not to mention those items she did retrieve...".

Miss Ames frowning...The nervous young man nodding...

"Did you know...?" Cicely asked...

"Certainly not..." Farris shook his head... "We were aware he had great ability and there were rumors of his having confronted Slayers in daylight but this..." he paused, tapping fingers together... "This presents a problem..."

"How do we kill a vampire who can't be staked?..." the young man asked...

"Burn him..." Miss Ames suggested... "Easy enough if you'd made a real effort..." she eyed Cicely... "You mentioned him lighting a lamp in your report..."

"Courteous of him..." the young man nodded...

"I would have had to go through him to reach it..." Cicely frowned...

Farris raised a hand as Miss Ames parted lips to make another objection... "Enough, I say...Cicely has done her work well...We have retrieved most of the stolen items, confirmed a rumor about His Benevolence, and learned two important new facts..."

"Two?..." Miss Ames paused in mid-frown... "You said we knew of his light resistance and the child only claimed his ability to resist staking...

"He's been weakened by whatever he was attempting to do with the remaining items..." Farris explained... "He broke off battle and Cicely described him as weary, claiming to be 'indisposed', correct?..."

"Yes, sir..." Cicely nodded...

"You believe that...?" Miss Ames asked, a bit of sarcasm in her voice which faded as Farris turned to eye her coldly...

"His Benevolence had no reason to lie, Miss Ames...Let us not allow our own prejudices to prevent us from analyzing potentially valuable information..."

"No, Dr. Farris..." she sighed...

"What exactly did he keep of the things?..." the still-perspiring young man asked, tugging a moment rather unconsciously at his tight collar...

"That is also an odd thing..." Farris glanced at the small wooden table on which he laid out the items removed from the velvet bag Cicely had brought in with her...

"Nothing of any potential threat or exceptional power, that I know of...In fact he has returned the orb of Calistos which was the one item which did have some potential for retaining mystic energy...Very odd...He broke his truce of two centuries with the Council, jeopardized his mortal world business interests and possibly his very existence...For what?...What does he hope to gain from what he kept with him?..."

"A game..." the young man suggested... "He said he knew of our Cicely...He probably wanted to meet her, feel out her...Abilities..." hastily... "Perhaps the whole theft was a lure...He knew we would send in our Slayer..."

"And he refrains from killing her...Why?..." Miss Ames asked...

"It amused him to let her live...For now..."

"Intriguing theory, Phillips..." Farris eyed him... "And not impossible but it hardly deals with the two major issues of the case...What does he seek to gain?...And how can Cicely engage him with a reasonable possibility of victory...You two..." he briefly eyed Miss Ames... "Will now each focus on one of those two issues...Report to me in the morning...Good evening..."

Ames and Phillips eyed each other...Cicely, casual gaze from her seat now...Night, bit players...

"Yes, sir..." Miss Ames, a bit miffed...Quick glance to Cicely... "But I should be taking Cicely back soon...Sir Richard will be expecting us..."

"She will be ready to leave shortly...You may retire to the study and begin...After seeing her safely home you can return...That will be all..."

"Sir..." she nodded...

"Good night, Miss Addams..." Phillips, rising...Tugging again at his collar... "I'd say it went well...I'm sure your hunt will succeed..."

Ummn...He hurried out of his chair under Farris' cold stare...Miss Ames already on her way to the study...

Lord be praised I'll be free in a just a bit to loosen...Whether the old battleaxe Ames likes it or no...

"Mr. Phillips..." Cicely nodded...

"The door, Phillips..." Farris eyed him...

"Yes, sir..." the young man started to close...

"Not all the way, boy...Think of Miss Addams' reputation..." Farris frowned...

"Yes, Dr. Farris..." Phillips left the door just ajar...Cicely repressing a smile...

"You can't be too careful, girl..." Farris returned her look...A smile now forming on his part...

"I'm sorry, sir..." she sighed... "Truly..."

"You survived...Accomplished the greatest part of our objectives...And you did your best..." he shook his head... "Nothing to be sorry about, my girl...I would have been rather annoyed with you had you been such a fool as to stay and be killed, you know..." he gave a mock glare and rose...Moving to a side door...

"Maria!..." he called... "Some tea for us...And then bring some to Miss Ames and Mr. Phillips in the study...

She looked at her hands a bit...Damn...Nails...Bitten down to the bone...And if Father sees...

"It's I who am sorry and should be, girl..." Farris returned to face her, standing... "I've served you poorly on this one...Not to mention those two idiots of mine...We should have ..Are you quite sure you're all right?..." he looked her over worriedly...

"Yes, sir...It wasn't your fault, sir..." she paused... "Didn't the Council know about his abilities?..."

"Only a very little...Believe me if you think it was foolish to make truce with him and then fail to learn all we could about him, you have a firm supporter in me... Cicely...?" narrow look at her hastily concealed fingers, followed by smile... "You were biting again?..."

She sighed... "Yes...Again...And Father will be livid if he sees...I'm sorry, Dr. F..." she looked up at his smile...Smiling herself...

"We'll see what Maria can do about it..." he winked at her...Pulling the table closer to her, then a chair for himself... "Cicely, my poor girl, truly...It was wrong to send you in like this...You are not to risk another engagement, whatever the Council wishes...Not until we have more solid information on His Benevolence..." the name pronounced with slight sneer...

"He was actually rather charming...Why didn't he kill me?..." she looked at him as he took seat..."Do you think...Phillips' idea...?"

"Perhaps...Difficult as it is to imagine that young oaf conceiving the correct idea..."

"Mr. Phillips does try very hard, sir..." she gave a little grin to his frown... "I'm sure if you encouraged him, he'd develop into a fine Watcher..."

"Not for some considerable time, my girl...If I should have any say in the matter..." Farris shook his head... "For that would mean another Slayer as well...And you are going to see old age if I live..."

He paused as Maria entered with tea and began setting up...Cicely chatting with her briefly in Italian...

"Cake...?" he offered...She gratefully taking the slice...

"I'd like to..." she looked at him... "...Old age I mean..." wan smile...

"And you will...But for that...We must work harder than ever before...Training and research..." he nodded... "Particularly..."

"'To defeat the Evil, one must study it'..." she quoted, grinning...

"You're learning, my girl..."

"Dr. Farris...?" Miss Ames was at the door... "I think we must be going now...Sir Richard will be home and concerned if we haven't yet returned..."

"Yes, we'd better..." Cicely nodded... "I'd no idea it was getting so very late...Will you send Mr. Phillips tomorrow?...Or come yourself?..."

"Hmmn...If I have anything to send it will be through Phillips or slipped first to Miss Ames...I fear your father might find my appearance in Rome and on your doorstep a bit much...We'll try to have something for you in the next few days...But Cicely..." his voice stern... "Do not try another attack on His Benevolence, whatever nonsense Ames spouts...Your life is important, not something to be thrown away for no good reason...And there is nothing here, so far that is a good enough reason...You understand me?..."

"I'll be careful, Dr. Farris..." she nodded, rising for the door... "Thank you for the tea..."

"Good night, my girl...And pleasant dreams...Though, Cicely..." he eyed her...

"Sir?..." she paused...

"Not too pleasant...If they should happen to involve a certain 'charming' vampire..."

"I never know when you're listening to me or not, Mr. Farris..." she grinned slyly and closed the door...

"Stake in the chest?..." Willow eyed Henri who gave a sheepish wave of hands... "Not bad...So that was your first meeting...?"

"As I said..." Henri nodded... "Pretty much the usual Slayer-vampire first encounter..."

Dawn a bit in glare mode...Yet feeling a tad ridiculous...

I mean...I'm feeling a little mad at her for William's sake?...she thought...

"And what were you after with those Council things...?" Xander, eyeing him...

"That which I'd so thoughtlessly sacrificed so many centuries before..."

Dawn rolled her eyes...Another vamp who wants to win his soul back?...

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XII...

Terrace garden of the Villa de L'Immortale de Roma...Sunset...

"No, Andy..." Willow was telling her cell... "There's no reason to call Giles just yet...We're satisfied with Cicely's...Buffy's reasons for coming with just Dawn and Olive..." Slight frown at sheepish-looking Buffy...Dawn...Olive...in turn... "Just stand-by and check in with me in an hour...What?...Right..." She turned to Xander... "Watch?..." He rolled eyes but held up wrist... "Synchronizing...Ok...See ya, Andy...Bye..."

"He's just trying to do things right, Xander…" she noted…

"Thanks, Willow..." Buffy, apologetically...

"Indeed, Miss Rosenberg..." Henri nodded...

She put up a hand... "This is me holding off...Not letting you off, Buffy...And if you pull something like this again..." she frowned...

"Understood..." Buffy nodded...

"So..." Xander looked at Henri...Who still maintained a slightly disturbing tendency to look his way with considerable interest... "You took those things to get your soul back...? I thought..."

"No, my soul was quite front and center here..." Henri sighed...Eyeing Buffy with wry look... "I'd not had that rather unfair bargain forced upon me...However poor my choice was, my soul was not lost...And to my shame, the choice was a completely voluntary one…"

"Your soul and the demon bound in some way...?" Willow asked...

"Exactly...Along with some special provisions my abilities gave me...I was once a rather good sorcerer...Though not quite so good as I'd convinced myself I was at the time..."

William never did that...Dawn thought, narrow look at Buffy...

Still, all this is about William, so she says...

"What?..." Buffy looked back...

"Nothing..." Dawn returned to attending Henri...

"But you must've of known...Didn't you guess what it would be like?...You really thought a nice guy like you could...?" Willow…

He gave a wan smile...Buffy eyeing him...

"I was hardly a 'nice guy' in my human day, Willow..." he sighed... "Though I was raised with love…By two slaves whose lives despite their sufferings remain a beacon to my pitiful soul down to this day…But when power came to me at last, I rejected their lessons, relished my new strength, allied with Evil...Happily exploited magic and power to dominate and even, where I wished, destroy...Only the fact that Rome and its environs were a rather small world compared to the whole Earth...And my cowardice in seeking out the rest of that world...Prevented my human career from doing even more damage to Humanity...But then, in spite of all my abilities..."

"The bill came due..." Xander eyed him...Willow pensive…

"With an Evil vengeance...I'd extended my life unnaturally but even that couldn't save me...Though it had, over time, caused me to rethink a few things..."

"Such as..." Willow asked...

"Even for an arrogant, unfeeling ass...Ever see 'Groundhog Day', Bill Murray?...You must see that moving picture play, Cicely...There comes a moment when he begins to see...If he lives long enough...What he's given up in cutting himself off from others...I began to regret my life...Somewhat...And more importantly to fear I had joined the losing side..."

"Natch..." Dawn nodded...

"Indeed...When one exists long enough the evidence begins to pile that Evil is not destined to win out...Nor Immortals triumph...And then in came a new religion which warned the end was coming..."

"You saw the dawn of Christianity...?" Olive asked...

"Can't say I saw the Cruifixion as some like to claim...I was a general in Germany at the time...But...As time went on I saw, despite Evil's attempts to exploit and distort its message there was some real hope in it...At least as a vehicle for bettering Humanity, not necessarily as a divine truth...Which I can neither confirm nor deny out of my own experience..." he nodded to a slightly miffed Willow...What, that again?

"A part of the development of human morality...As all good faiths are and should be...And seeing that Humanity was advancing, even triumphing...At least over the long course...I began to take an interest in individuals...Beyond the simple gross pleasures I had taken in, or mostly, from them...Not since I'd been a child had I cared...Truly cared for others...But of course fear was still my primary motivating factor...Whether or not the Christian Judgement loomed...The defeat of Evil in Time was certain...And I was doomed..."

"So...Give up team Evil, join team Good..." Dawn noted...

"Not an easy thing, Dawn..." he replied... "I wasn't quite ready to become a saint...Or even a good follower...Of any faith...No, I chose to hedge my bets...I did what I could to begin a redemption of sorts...I was even one of the Better Roman Emperors for a time...And a power behind numerous thrones, striving to do some good…Though whether my heart was fully in it at the time, I can't honestly say...But my fear gnawed at me and I continued to seek a way to cheat the ferryman..."

"Death..." Olive explained to the puzzled looks...

"And found probably the worst possible way, after centuries of seeking and my physical body reaching the limits even of the most powerful magics...I could take on the Immortality of the Undead and yet keep my Immortal soul in place...And strengthen that Immortal body with the powers of the true vampire...Not the mere hybrid experiments we see in the world today...And I convinced myself I could do it at no price to my redemption...Physically Immortal, yet keeping the option of redemption open…"

"Playing both ends..." Willow nodded... "Didn't you guess it wouldn't work?..."

"Of course...But would that stop an arrogant and more importantly, a cowardly fool facing that eternal death he most feared?... No, I went ahead...And believed I'd succeeded...I was Immortal yet free..."

"Until..." Willow eyed him...

"Until...I found the demon within…And realized it was me...Bound to me...Indeed, a very recognizable part of me...And determined to dominate...And weak soul that mine was..."

"It did..."

"Not entirely but sufficiently to lead that weak soul back to an Evil course in action as well as intent...After all, my 'redemption' of sorts had been that of the coward who fears punishment, not a true one...Except in..." he hesitated...

"I said I'd come to care for humans as individuals again…" he explained…

"So you met someone…" Dawn, another narrow glance Buffy's way…

"Several someones…" he noted… "And much to my astonishment, not always, at least over time, with an expectation that my feeling would be returned…Not merely some individual love, you see…Though that came to me as well…Sometimes a family…An exceptional couple like my own dear parents, enduring what cannot be endured and somehow maintaining some degree of love and joy in their lives…A child whose innocence…An old man or woman whose perfection of soul…touched even my dead heart…But like Dickens' pitiful Jacob Marley, I'd lost the power to love and care for them…I found to involve myself in their lives meant their death in time…Usually at my own hands when the demon could not be fought down…I found myself doomed to be both mourner and murderer…Forced to retreat from Humanity as much as possible…And yet drawn to it…"

Then…He sighed… I met the One…As the poets and songwriters say… He smiled…

Dawn involuntarily looking at Buffy who frowned…So that's it…

"Not me, Dawn…" she shook her head…

"No, though I should have been fortunate…" Henri smiled…

"Henry?..." Xander suggested…

"He was much like her in soul…But no…Rest easy, Xander…" a wider smile…

"The other great beacon in my existence until I met this dear lady…" he nodded to Buffy… "Though neither she nor I knew until her death…At my hands…What she'd meant to me…My sweet Beatrice…Who again lit the lamps for me…And sought to save me from myself…And who waits for me…Somewhere…"

"Like Dante's…" Willow nodded…

"Dante's…" he nodded… "I'm pleased to know it's still being read, that little opus of mine…"

Her jaw dropped a bit… "You?..."

"I was born just over what passes now as the Italian border…Of what would now be considered a French mother and Italian father…" he explained… "While I think of myself as a European, France and Italy have equal claims on my heart…And in the 1300's, Italy was the happening place…" he grinned…

"You are Dante Alighieri?..." Olive stared…

"At that time, yes…"

"…'that which has never been written of any woman"…" Olive quoted… "The Divine Comedy and The New Life…Quite a tribute…"

"She was worthy of it…"

"I thought you were nine when you first met her…" Willow eyed him…

"Indeed I was…When first I met her soul…But it was only centuries later when I encountered that soul again that I recognized her…As Cicely recognized William…" he smiled to Buffy…

The others staring…

"'In the book of my memory, after the first pages, which are almost blank, there is a section headed Incipit vita nova…' Here begins a new life…" he translated… "And so it did…Though it was many, many years before my Beatrice's efforts bore fruit beyond my pitiable tributes to the glory of her soul…"

"And you killed her…" Willow stared…

"Even as she prayed for me…Though…" he grinned… "Don't assume she was a plaster saint…She made me suffer quite a deal in those years we knew each other…Before and as Alighieri…"

"You were lovers then?..." Olive asked… "Most thought…"

" 'Most' were right…No, Miss Knowles, we were barely acquainted during her brief lives here…And she generally scorned my approaches when I attempted to improve that acquaintance…Until near the end…When something…Some past memory of me, perhaps…At least I like to believe…Or just her warm heart…Heard my cries from the soul and she tried to save me…As she still tries, hopefully with confidence in eventual success…"

"You recognized Will…?" Dawn eyed Buffy…

"I told you so, didn't I…?" Buffy, quietly… "Did you think I was simply spouting romantic nonsense?..."

"One senses one's soulmate, Dawn…" Henri nodded… "I know that's a notion many would choose to reject in these times but like the hope of a true wedlock in marriage and the triumph of Love, it refuses to die…"

Xander looked at Buffy…Her face composed, still… "You couldn't save Will…So…?"

"So…I tried to give another couple a happy ending…" she nodded…

"And William did admire Henri's work so…" she beamed, a bit wanly…

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XIII...

1875...London...

"Ring around the rosy...Pocket full of posy..." the white faces sang...Circling round the young dark-haired woman in formal dress...One trying to pluck at the lovely gown, but retreating hastily to the ring as the woman tensed, then thrust a stake…

"Yes, yes...My little ones...My little angels..." a voice, calling from the shadows...

"...Ashes, ashes..."

"You're so right..." Cicely slashed at the nearest...What appeared to be an innocent little boy...Of six or seven years... He cried out and dusted...The others uncertainly wavering...

She slashed at the next, apparently a little girl, no more than four... "God pity you, child..." she called...

"SLAYER!..." the voice, enraged... "Killer of my little angels!..."

"Fiend!..." she screamed back... "Child murderer!..." she slashed at the next in the ring, a boy...

"No!..." the next, a little girl in appearance put up little hands...Cicely pausing but a second...

All the remaining "children" baring fangs and rushing her...She slashing, desperately...

"Kill her, my little ones!..." the voice called...

Two on her now, the rest looking to rush in...She dusted two more but could not shake the ones now crawling on her, biting...

"Oh!..." she slashed at the one moving for her neck...Barely four in appearance, still in her burial shroud...

A strangling sound from the shadows...

"Away...Leave her!..." desperate gasp...

The "children" eyeing each other...

"Away!...Now!..." the voice, rasping...

All fled...Cicely managing a last successful slash at one older one...A pale-faced "girl", perhaps eleven...Only the flowers clutched in one hand remaining...

"Let me...Go!..." the voice cried out... "My ange..." gasping cry...

She caught her breath, peering into the darkness...

"You..." she stared...

"Miss Addams..." the Immortal nodded...Wrenching his victim forward...In appearance an elderly man of gentle features in clerical garb...Face distorted in raging struggle...

"The Reverend..." he introduced his prisoner...

"Here..." she called...

"No..." the Reverend gasped... Twisting... "Brother..." he tried, desperately...

"Ah!..." a cry fading as dust spread...'Dickens' clattering to the ground...

"You are all right, Miss?..." the Immortal eyed her...

"Yes..." she nodded...Eyeing him coldly as she carefully scooped up 'Dickens'...

"Why?..." she asked...

"I object to the transformation of children..." he replied, calmly... "But are you quite all right?...You've been bitten..."

"Not seriously..." she looked round... "The others...They must be destroyed before they turn other children..."

:"Indeed..." he nodded...A faint smile...

"Not going to try again?..."

"At the present time, I assume there'd be no point..." she frowned... "And this abomination must be ended..."

"Then, if you'll allow me..." he eyed her... "I'll seek them to the east and south..."

"Very well..." she nodded...Blinking as he vanished...

Well...That was one interesting reunion...She turned to head off to the west, carefully extending her senses...Hmmn...She eyed the bag she'd just stepped on...

Exactly like the one he'd given her in Rome, four years before...Black velvet...Rope tie...She picked it up, gingerly...A card fluttered out...She picked it up...

Monogrammed...HFdeV...

"Regards...Henri..." she read on back...Feeling the bag...

"The other stuff he'd taken?..." Xander asked...

"A bit late but..." Henri grinned...

"Where did you come from that night, anyway?..." Buffy asked him...

"I'd been hiding in the church of all places...Not the Reverend's desanctified one, the one you passed just before his "angels" met you..."

"I thought I'd sensed something..." she nodded... "Anyway..." she returned to the others... "That was the second time we'd met...And he'd left me more puzzled than ever..."

"Was it really to help those kids?..." Willow asked him...

"Not even London's vampiral residents cared for the Reverend...Even demons generally being fond of offspring...Not to mention realizing the danger he was putting them in, given the hue and cry he'd stirred..." Henri nodded... "And he'd gone and done some harm in my territories in France as well...And even at my worst, I was always quite territorial..."

"But..." he sighed... "Though I'd like to think even then my motivations had undergone some uplift...I'd come to London again seeking my own salvation..."

"My previous efforts had failed, but given me hope..."

"Hope...?" Olive asked...

"That the demon could be driven down, expelled...And more...That I might at last be free of my Immortality...Free to die in the hope that Beatrice would be waiting..."

"You don't seem in that much hurry nowadays..." Dawn noted... "Your soulmate find another guy or something...?"

"I certainly hope not..." he grinned... "Though I'd deserve it, keeping her waiting as I do..."

"Perhaps she's not gone..." Buffy said quietly... "Still here, in this world..."

"No..." he shook his head... "Though she still speaks to me, her spirit is at rest..."

"Not Will's..." she eyed him... "He's not gone...I know it..."

"Then our job is what it was before...To find him..." he nodded...

Willow eyeing Xander who was staring at the garden's rear brick wall...Hands clenched...

"You ok, honey...?" she asked gently...

"Sure..." he nodded... "Not like I'd waste my life loving anyone fool enough to…" bitter tone…

"Yes..." Buffy replied after a moment... "To find him...And punish his killers..."

Willow, hand on Xander's arm, glanced back at her stone-rigid face...Henri looking a bit...Uncertain?...

I'm…Relieved?...Dawn blinked…

1880...London...

"So..." the dark-haired man in evening clothes regarded the figure awaiting him under a street light...Waving the cab that had just let him off away...

"...You're Henri?..."

"Mr. Foxcroft...?"

"Yes...Where is she?..."

"Not far..." Henri assured him...Pausing a moment to scan the young man's face...

"Yes...It is you..." he nodded... "Forgive me...Your cousin has powerful enemies...And I'm sure they would not have hesitated to use such a stratagem to reach her..."

"I rather thought..." Henry stared at the elegant figure before him...

"That I was one such...Yes..." Henri nodded... "I have been...Though never voluntarily, as I hope…"

"So she's said…Is she very ill?..."

"She's dying, Mr. Foxcroft...We must hurry...Come..."

He turned and began moving down the mist-shrouded street...Streetlamps flickering poorly in the gloom...Foxcroft following after a second's hesitation, trying to hurry after him...

"Up here...Quickly..." he led him to a set of stairs...Henry recognized the sign of a small local hospital...

"I managed to get her in without giving her name...But I cannot guarantee we were not tracked..."

"By whom...?" Foxcroft looked at him...

"Those who killed her...She needs to speak with you...Come..."

"Henry..." Cicely's weary, defeated face told him the Immortal's words were truth...

"Cicely...Why did you run off?...Should I fetch...?"

"No one..." she shook her head... "I'm trying...The doctor says the baby..." she gasped, gritting teeth...Hands gripping, bending the bedframe...

"I've just got to stay...A little longer...Oh..."

"Cicely..."

"I saw him, Henry...I nearly..." she gasped... "Oh, Henry...If I'd just been a little stronger..."

"That creature..." he looked to where the Immortal stood...Having quietly left them after bringing Henry to her...

"No...It wasn't him, Henry...He's kept his word...You must keep mine...Please...Henry..."

"William?..."

"Headed for France with that thing...I saw them...I almost…But it was too late..." she tensed...Groaning...

"Matron!..." Henry called...Cicely put up a hand...Not yet...

"Promise me you'll give him..." she looked over... "He did his best for me, Henry...Give him..."

"I will..." he nodded... "But I won't give up on Will, either...I promise..."

"Don't waste your life...He's much too powerful now...Leave him to the next Slayer...And me...Henry...? Promise me...There's Amelia and Philip to think of...He wouldn't want you to die needlessly, trying to help him...Leave him to me...And...If...The baby..."

"I will...All of them...Don't worry, Cics..."

She nodded... "You and Henri...Don't wait here...Keep close but don't let them find you here...And if she...If she's not...Alive...Don't wait...Go...It won't be long now...Not long..."

"Who did this, Cics...The Council?..."

"Leave them..." she shook her sweat-soaked head...Hair plastered on the shabby pillow... "Leave him...Just the living...And..." she tried to over to Henri...

"I will..."

"Call the matron...Stay with Henri, until it's over...Then go...If she's...No...No..."

"Matron!..." he called again...

"I won't..." she murmured... "I won't...Not like this...I won't let it end like this…"

"Best to leave it to us, sir..." the newly arrived nurse urged him gently aside...Drawing a curtain round the bed... He staggered over to where Henri watched quietly...

"Doctor!..." a shout... Henry and the Immortal staring over...

"You found her in Lyme..." Henry eyed the Immortal...Henri?...She'd called him...

"Yes...She'd nearly reached him...But I arrived too late and he and Drusilla were gone...And Farris and the Council team were with her...I managed to follow them here...I'm so sorry, Mr. Foxcroft...I should never have left her...But he eluded my people before I could reach them and she'd left for Lyme before I could return to her..."

"Can't we do anything?...Dr. Farris, perhaps?..."

"There's no antidote to the agent she was given...My best have tried… Her strength is the only thing that's kept her alive these past days...For the child's sake...But..."

"No chance...?"

"None...I couldn't tell her...But the child is dead...By the same agent..."

"Her enemies...The Angelus clan...?" he looked over to where more staff, a doctor were hurrying to Cicely's bed...

"Angelus, even Drusilla, would never waste time on such a method...No, Mr. Foxcroft...Her murderers weren't the Undead..."

"The Council?...Why?..."

"She betrayed them, by their lights...And she has moved from being their source of power to standing in its way...But it wasn't the Council who orchestrated all this, grim as their response to her actions might have been...And willing as no doubt they will be to approve the action after the fact..."

"Not the Council?..."

"A specific member, Henry...If I may..."

"No..." Buffy sat straight... "What were you saying, Henri?...Of course it was the Council...You mean Chairman Rathskellar?..."

"No...My dear..." Henri sighed...

Willow, Xander, and the others staring...

No...She rose to her feet... "No..." she shook her head...Lips trembling…

"Cicely..."

"No...No..." she was shaking now... "Not me...My child...He loved me..."

"Too well, I think, my poor girl..."

"Buffy..." Willow rose from her chair next to Xander...

She waved hands...No... "No!..." a howl that broke into tears as she backed away from the risen Henri and Willow...

"Cicely..." Henri said, gently... "I know how hard this is for you...But you yourself sense the truth and must accept it...Henry and I heard it from his own lips...Just two years later...When Henry killed him..."

She stared at him...

"It was him, Cicely...From the very start...The whole scheme...Halfreck, Drusilla, William...Your death..."

"You're lying..." she tensed... "He always said I was foolish to...He..." she pulled a stake out...

"If you like..." Henri nodded...

She dropped the stake and stood, shaking...Finally collapsing into Willow's arms as she came near...

"Oh God...Simon!...Simon!..." she sobbed...

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XIV...

At the Immortal's gently-voiced suggestion they'd called an end to the evening...Buffy clearly in no state to continue dredging up old memories...She wanly agreeing it was best to return to their hotel and meet with Henri there the next day to discuss her next move...

"Home..." she'd said simply in reply to the Immortal's careful request as to what that next move might be...

All the way back in the cab, she staring quietly out at the Rome streets...Nightlife in full swing, a few young men waving to the lovely bevy of ladies in the passing cab...Dawn seated next to her...Hand occasionally gently touching her sister's...Or whatever she was, now...shoulder...Eyeing Willow and Olive, both in back with her, from time to time, as Xander sat up front with the driver and tried to force a bit of chit-chat with him...Noting the remarkable endurance of Roman building...Those crazy scooters whizzing through...

Yeah, it was nice that some girls like his friend in back still dressed like ladies...Somewhat frowning stare by cabbie at Dawn in rear view mirror...

About halfway to the hotel, Buffy absent-mindedly patting Dawn's hand...

"I'm sorry..." Dawn said, quietly...

"Yes..." Buffy nodded...Then looked at her a bit... "That dress..." she sighed...

"Do I really let you wear such things all the time?..."

"Not at these prices…It's the fashion, Buffy...No crazier than some of the things you must've worn in your day...Bustles and all, I mean..." Dawn smiled...

"I suppose..." Buffy nodded, looking out the window again...

"Fathers..." she said suddenly... "You and...I..." she looked at Dawn again... "Our father..."

"Hank..." Dawn nodded...

"Left us...Our mother, you said..."

"They divorced...It was friendly...Though...He never would..." she shrugged...

"What?..."

"Doesn't matter...Probably all phony memories anyway...I bet he really doesn't even remember me...Never knew about me..."

"His loss, then..." Buffy said quietly...

"I guess you and this..." Dawn began...

"Lets not talk about Simon...Not now..." Buffy shook her head...Then with an effort... "So...What did you think of him?...Not too difficult a sight to bear?"

"Henri?..." Dawn grinned a bit... "Pretty much yer usual Immortal...Demi-god..." broader grin...Buffy returning wry look...

"But what was that thing he had for Xander all night?..." she looked over to Xander...Who mocked frowned back... "I think you scored, Xander..." she teased...

"Hey...There was no 'thing'..." he replied...

"You think Henri is of the other persuasion...?" Buffy stared...Willow looking over...

Grrreat...

"Well...Yeah..." Dawn nodded... "Unless he's got to fight his dark side by ramming any sex drive down to his boots...Xander was the only one of us he couldn't take his eyes off the whole evening...Whadaya think, Xander...Was it the eye patch that brought Dante down?..."

"Ahhh!..." Xander groaned...

"He's been in love with Beatrice for nearly six hundred years..." Buffy noted...

"And I'm sure it's a love of the purest sort...Literarily..." Dawn grinned... "Doesn't mean he might still play around with a handsome hunk or two once every century or so to ease those lonely eons..."

Ummn...She eyed Buffy's stern face...

"The gay thing's not such a big deal, nowadays Buffy..."

"Gay?..."

"Homosexual..." Willow cut in...A bit coolly...

Well, I've been waiting for this one...she sighed...

"Oh, that..." Buffy waved a hand... "Wasn't such a 'big deal' as you say in my day either...Though we were a tad more respectful of personal matters... " She smiled faintly at Dawn, shaking head... "Did you think that would upset me?...For Heaven's sake..." she gave Willow a sidelong glance... "It's not as though I'd never had another 'gay' friend like Willow here...My cousin Maude was for all intents and purposes married to her friend Jane for years..."

She chuckled now at Dawn's look... "What?...You thought I didn't know...? I've lost the modern part of my memories at worst, not gone into a permanently vegetative state...But you're wrong about Henri...He deals in the spirit, not the physical form...Though I doubt the distinctions of male and female matter much of him now...Sandler...Ummn...Xander..."

"Hey, I tole you, I'm getting to like it..." Xander smiled...

"Sandler..." she smiled back... "Has a soul we've encountered before...And Henri treasures the memories of each encounter..."

"You're saying..." And thanks...Willow smiled but did not say... "...Xander is your cousin's soul...? Henry...?"

"I'm sure of it..." Buffy nodded, beaming at Xander...Who blinked a bit...

Whoa...

"Don't be alarmed, Sandler...You're not suddenly going to forget the last twenty years...Souls are reborn all the time..." she smiled at him... "Mine and William's, yours...Probably all of us…We return to this world constantly..."

"As you did..." Willow noted...

"Not quite the same...I think..." Buffy shook her head... "A rebirth is different from what's happened with me, I'm sure...In a rebirth, the soul is the old one but the personality...The mind...The life..Is new...The soul guides and shapes a bit but it's a new life..."

"So you won't have a sudden desire to don hat and gloves and call for your dogs..." she grinned at Xander...

"Bet you'd look good in a hat...One of those long, pop-up jobs..." Dawn teased him...

Buffy eyeing her again...

Hmmn?...

"But what makes you think you're different?..." Willow eyed her... "Buffy Summers lived...Lives her own life...She never knew of you...And no offense, but you're two very different people..."

Hmmn...Dawn pondered...

"Debatable as to that, I'd say Dawn thinks..." Buffy noted, smiling at her thoughtful face... "And regardless here I am..." she said... "Complete, not fragments of lost memories...I know Mr. Giles...And you...Want more time to learn about me...But I'm convinced I'm a reincarnation..."

She glanced at the faces eyeing her in the cab... "I'm not asking you to believe that...Simply saying until I see proof otherwise that I believe that is the case here..."

"Could be..." Dawn said, quietly... "But as you say, we need proof..."

"A reincarnate could push modern memories back..." Willow considered the matter... "And maybe...When you pull boners like this afternoon, there is a little of Buffy in you..."

"We'll find out when we go to England..." Buffy said quietly... "Mr. Giles'll be ready to try then...Won't he?..."

An exorcism, I mean...she looked at Willow's questioning face... "It's the logical thing...And fine with me..." she turned back to watching the passing streets...

Olive frowning a bit...Dawn turning to Willow...Her own questioning look...

"I wouldn't let him do anything I thought would hurt you, Buffy..." Willow began...

"It's fine...If I'm just a spirit who happened along, in the wake of my dead husband, perhaps, I've no claim to this body..." Buffy shook her head... "And probably better off out of this miserable world..." she was silent...

"I don't think an exorcism's to be rushed into lightly, Cicely..." Olive insisted...

"No?..." Buffy looked at her... "I'd imagine young Dawn here and Willow would prefer to have me gone as soon as physically...Or spiritually..."

"No one said that, Cicely..." Dawn said, quietly...

"Thank you..." Buffy smiled wanly...

"I'm sorry..." she shook her head... "I'm afraid I'm not good company this evening...Henri was right...I suppose I knew all along...But, still...I..."

"Why did he do this to you?..." Dawn asked...

"One of the things I'll know before I'm done..." Buffy replied calmly...

"But I'm ruining what should be a wonderful time for you all...Your first day in Rome..." she smiled at the others...

"Nah..." Xander shook his head from the front... "I don't know about the rest of the guys but it's been pretty memorable for me...I just hope between the marathon tour this morning and that eight course..."

"Ten..." Willow corrected...

"...Ten course Roman orgy your pal fed us I manage to wake up tomorrow...The key thing being..." he grinned at Buffy... "I wasn't really sure I'd be wanting to wake up tomorrow before we came...But now I'm finding I'd kinda like to see a little more of this place..."

"Then the whole thing's been worth it..." Buffy smiled back...Willow, troubled look at Xander…Who shook head…It is better, Wil…

"You know..." Buffy began..."If you're all not totally ready to collapse...I'd like to find some place to unwind a little...After we pick up poor Mr. Wells who's been so good about staying at his post alone tonight...Would any of you like to come along?..."

"Some nice old ruin to read a little poetry by moonlight...?" Willow asked...

"Something like that..." Buffy waved a hand...

"Well, seein' as you're going nowhere without the Dawnster..." Dawn nodded firmly...

1 am…

"Buffy...Careful..." Dawn cautioned... Eyeing the precarious nature of the situation... "The table doesn't look so..." she looked at Xander...

"Buf...I think you better..." he tried...

"OHHH!...'e's a lovely, lovely lad...!" Buffy sang, swig of her fifth boilermaker as she stood on tiptoe, on top of said table in the ... "But for 'im, I'll not be 'ad... For 'e's..." deep breath... "Not bloody able to make it up Mount Kilarminjar...O!...Ha, ha, ha, ha!..." New swig...

Cheers from her attentive audience of overwhelmingly young males... Several eyeing Xander with distinctly narrow looks...Many of the females present eyeing Buffy with distinctly narrow looks…

"Lets have another one!..." she called... "Giuse...Giov...You there!..." she hailed a passing waiter...

"Another round for the house!..." she waved a hand out at the crowd... "What'll it be this time, gents!..." she called... "No...I've got one..."

"I thought she was a society girl..." Willow looked at Olive...

"In those days you couldn't drink the water...And I doubt they had much lemonade at a lot of the places a Slayer had to frequent by night then..." Olive noted...

"Yes...I've got one..." Buffy put up a hand to some requests... "I just have to change it a little...Just a mo...Ok..."

The amazing thing is how she keeps that hat on perfectly straight...Willow thought...

Only two buttons on her blouse loose and that skirt and hat and she still looks sexier than every other girl in this place, Dawn thought, sighing still…

"I wish I 'ad some one to love me...SOOMeone to call me their own...

Someone to live wid' me always...I'm tired of livin' alone.

Beauoootiful light o' the ocean,

Beautiful light on the sea,

Beautiful light on the ocean;

Me love, I been waitin' for thee.

A hundred plus years I been married.

I wish I 'ad died an ole maid.

For I never seen nothin' but trouble,

My 'usband won't...Stick at his trade..."

Vague winking nudge at Willow...Who stared up at her...

"'e promised before we was 'arried,

That we'd be gallant and gay;

And every night of the winter

We'd go to some ball or some play.

I wish you'd go down to the bar room,

And get him away if you can,

For you never know what's going to 'appen..."

"Buffy..." Dawn staring...Urgent look to Willow...

"To my foolish young drinking man..."

For I have to get up in the mornin'?

Labor and toil all the day;

And then in the evening go chase 'im

Then put our dear..." Tear running down one cheek... "...children away. ..

Oh..." Pause...

"Come on, Buf...It's time to wrap…" Xander came to her, trying to urge her down...She waved him off...The crowd watching...Even some of the younger men...Even some who could not follow the song in English now aware...Watching her tear-streaked face...

"Oh...What is the use of repenting;

Where there's a will there's a way.

Cause...Any old thing for a 'usband

Is better than to be an old maid.

Beautiful light on the ocean,

Beautiful light on the sea,

Beautiful light on the ocean;

My true love, I'm comin' for thee."

Silence...

Dawn staring…

"I sang that...On my wedding day..." Buffy smiled gently at the crowd staring back, wiping at her face a bit... "He loved that song..."

"Come on, Buffy…" Willow tugged gently… "You should sit now…"

"You..." Buffy eyed Willow... "You're my best friend, eh?...Eh?...That's true, right?..."

"I am, Buf..." she nodded... "Come down, honey...Xander?..." Buffy yielding slowly to their joint efforts, stepping down to a chair and then the floor...Swaying in their grip...

"Get him for me..." Buffy eyed her...Her voice slurred but insistent... "You can, I know you can..."

"I can't, Buffy..."

"Yes, you can..." Buffy insisted, wobbling... "They all say you can...You raised her from the Dead..." she poked at an arm... "You can...Please...He saved your lives, you all said so…You can't leave him there…Buried in that damned hole…"

"Buffy..."

"I've got to have him back, Willow...I can't stay here all alone...No offense to you and you, Dawnie!..." she called over... "Oh, please...Please..." tense pleading...

"We'll talk about it later..." Willow said... "It's time to go now...Andy, can you call a cab?..."

"I won't hurt them if you do..." Buffy stared at her as Andrew hurried off... "Bygones'll be bygones..." she waved a hand suddenly...

Oooh... "Sorry, Sandler...Sorry..." she apologized at Xander's slight groan...

"I didn't mean it..."

"I know..." he patted her... "Lets go now…Dawn's been up too long…"

"Yes…Come on, Dawn…Time to go…Tell Willow to do it for me, Henry..." she took his arm firmly... "You're all I have left now...Please...She'll do it for you…You'll do it for him, right?..." she eyed Willow…

"We'll talk it over tomorrow, Buf…" he nodded… "Right, Wil?..."

"Sure…"

"Promise me…Henry…?"

"I promise…" he nodded…

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XV...

6 am…Rome…

"Jesus…Are you up?..." a weary, bleary-eyed Dawn stared from her bed at the Buffy in nightgown moving past her open bedroom door…

"Sorry…Go back to sleep…I'll try to be quieter before I go out…"

"Go…Where?..."

"Just for a walk…"

"Ahhh…No, you don't…Wait…" Dawn groaned, turning covers over…Rubbing face…

"I'll just be a moment…You need to sleep…"

"You don't go anywhere without me, Buffy…Not until I know your brain's running at 100% and there's no demon or spirit running things in there…You promised me that, you know…"

"Fine…" Buffy put up a hand… "I'll stay…Go back to sleep…"

"I'm up now…Just wait a moment…"

"I don't need a guardian…"

"Tough…" Dawn yawned on the side of her bed… " 'Cause ya got one…"

"Because you have…" Buffy frowned…

"Whatever…Just tell me where we're going…"

"Out for a walk…" slight grin…

"Hey…" Dawn mock-frowned as she stretched, rising to her feet… "I know that line…"

"I learned a great deal from my husband in the short time we had..." Buffy nodded solemnly, grinned... "Really, I just want to get out and walk a bit…You haven't let me do patrol, I'm feeling cooped-up…And I love early morning walks..."

"We were out till 3am...We got five Slayers to do patrol in Rome alone…And they're Italians…"

"Whatever…" Buffy, clearly imitative…Grin… "You know that's one of yours I'm growing to like a bit…"

"We'll have you speaking Californian like a native in six months…" Dawn nodded wearily… "All right, we'll walk..."

"I'll ring for tea…" Buffy offered, heading for the living room..

"Gotta call…On the phone…" Dawn called to her back…

"Whatever…" the reply…

A grave old gentleman, white-haired, in rather out-of-fashion suit strolling the plaza outside the hotel nodded to the young lady in hat, gloves, and long skirt…Knew one day this suit would be back in style…Emerging with…Slight frown…Young girl dressed like most of them…He shook his head…

Buffy, gentle nod to the passing man… "Glorious morning, sir…" He touching his hat…

"Now he's what I expected His B to be…" Dawn noted, a bit annoyed at the frown clearly directed her way…

"Yes, so did I till Simon showed me photographs..." Buffy paused, looking over to a couple of shops across the plaza…Not a decent thing in any…Why don't we just walk the plaza a bit, she suggested as they walked down a few steps… "Dawn…I seem to recall being a bit pished last night…"

"'Pished'?…Yeah, I'd say so…Still, kudos as to your singing voice…"

"Really…?" wry grin… "My callers all used to say I had a good voice but who could trust a room full of cow-eyed young fellows, all desperate to please me…Now, Will would look at me and say I was 'all right'…But I could never tell if he was trying to avoid hurting my feelings…So, I wasn't bad…?"

"Roaring and red-faced, yes…Bad…No...Did you drink like that all the time?...Olive thought so…"

"My niece several removed is out of the will…" Buffy mock-frowned… Sheepish tone.. ."Well…Henry used to lecture me on my drinking...I was never able to fool him, though he admitted it was impossible to tell unless I'd not had a chance to gargle some cologne...And I never missed an engagement the next day…"

"Ehew...I saw Scarlett O'Hara do that once, I think..." Dawn wrinkled her nose...

"Well, I'd warn her parents..." Buffy noted... "Even if Miss O'Hara's one of our Slayers, it's not really a worthy habit for a young lady...My only excuse is that it was only after Patrol...I had nowhere else to go afterwards when Henry was away and it was too late for a play or a lecture and I'd have to wait and be sure Father and the servants were all asleep...Until my coming-out...And then...Lord...Facing an evening of a room full of dolts like that fool Henderson...The one who called William that bloody stupid..."

"Bloody awful..."

"I know that...And I don't ever want to hear those two words associated with William again...The man was a jealous, silly ass, whatever his fate...Only interested in buttering Father and perhaps getting his hands on the fortune included with me...Like most of them...Though Mr. Levinson and one or two others were some relief...Till William came...But I relished the chance to slip out, do my hunt, and then…"

"Get pished?..."

"Not always 'pished'…I had to be home before Father and the servants woke…But just the chance to be somewhere where no one knew me as Miss Addams…Or the Slayer…And yet knew me…I had a place I used to frequent…"

"Cheers…Where everybody knows your name…"

"What?..."

"TV…" Dawn waved off Buffy's puzzled frown… "Spike would have enjoyed the drinking..."

"Really?...Well, William could put down a pint or two...Or three...Or four... He was a working lad, originally, you know...And rather pleased after a bit of startle that I could keep up with him...Though I did try to hold it down on our nights...Didn't want him to get the wrong idea how I'd acquired an experience with the glass...And I did drink less with him...I wanted to keep a clear head to hold my own with him...Oh, he was so sharp then, Dawn...Talk with him was real talk...Was...It...?"

Spike…she rushed the name…As if anxious to get it off her tongue…

"As a tack...Razor...And whatever he was, he always told you the truth..." Dawn nodded...

"He didn't change all that much then...Lord, Dawn...The places we went to...The times we had together..." she sighed, wan smile...

"Romantic, eh?...He read you his stuff and all?..."

"Every now and then, some...Mainly we argued...About everything...In some of the worst dives in London...He was a bit of a radical...More than me...And he liked daring me to come to some of the rougher places...Though I know he deliberately chose the safer ones as I'd been to most of the worst on my own beforehand...We'd drop a bucket between us but it would only make us talk all the more..." she eyed Dawn...

"Buffy and...Did we talk?..."

"You never shut up..." she grinned... "I guess the subject of conversation changed a little what with him being Undead, vicious killer, and all...But you talked all right..."

"I loved him...?"

Sigh... "You didn't want to...Spike, I mean...I don't know about Will...I guess you held back with him too, maybe cause you weren't sure what to do about him...After he got the soul back, I mean...Leavin' him in the cellar like that I guess you weren't sure what to do...But, yeah...I guess so...Hard not to after all he did for you and me..."

"Cellar...?" her sis...

"Not ours...At Sunnydale High...Our school..."

"What?...Why would I do that?..."

"He was pretty crazy after the soul..."

"I left him in a cellar after he got his soul back?...For love of me...? While he was crazed...?"

Ummn...

"I think you meant it as sorta 'tough love'..." Dawn explained... "And he did pull out of it over time..."

"He'd been your enemy…A pretty vicious killer…" she tried to Buffy's cool stare… "Even with the chip and being together so much, you couldn't be sure of him…He'd even tried…"

"'Being together'…I take it you mean relations…"

"Well…"

"He'd become my lover…I knew he had a soul again and I left him in a cellar alone?...While he was crazed from the shock?..."

"Not exactly lover, lover…Sort've a…"

How do you say 'fuck-buddy' in 19th century Victorian…?

"I sound charming…" Buffy said coolly… "Lets sit…" she waved at a bench…

"Different sit, Buf…He wasn't the guy you remember…At least not till…"

"He won his soul back for love of me and you all say died at Sunnydale for me…Sounds a lot like him…"

"It was only for a little while…Then you brought him to live in our basement…And you were pissed when Giles…"

She looked away…Was not supposed to let this sort of thing come up…

"Yes...Dear Mr. Giles, counselor voice of reason..." grim tone... "Nice to know the Council is still well stocked with Machiavellians..."

"Buf..."

"Why did I let him die?..." Buffy asked…Not directly to Dawn…

"Someone had to finish off the First and her guys…" Dawn, hesitant… "When Angel brought the amulet…Spike…William…Couldn't wait to take it and prove he…"

"Angelus brought the amulet?…The one that destroyed the First's army?...And killed William again…?"

"He meant to use it himself…Maybe…" Dawn tried…

"And now he's sold himself to this 'Wolfram-Hart' sink of Evil?..."

:"We don't know that, Buffy…Giles can't forgive Angel for killing Jenny…Ummn…"

"He sounds as charming as Buffy…Obviously they were meant for each other…"

I really should pay him a visit when I have some time…she noted… "See if the old sparks are still there and pulling on the memory box…Find some proof he's back to his true nature…And…"

"Buffy, if some guy who'd had his wife and kids off'd by Spike came by…"

"The thing has his soul back, doesn't he?...He's responsible for his actions now…"

I did say I'd seek proof…she noted to Dawn's troubled face… "And your…Our…Dear Mr. Giles is suspicious of him…"

"It won't bring Will back to kill Angel…Even sad ole Dru…" Dawn noted…

"No, it would be strictly for my own pleasure…" Buffy nodded…Eyeing Dawn…"But...Let that rest...I've waited a hundred years, I can wait longer if I must...And I won't risk my soul for it in any case...You should've worn gloves, Dawn...This sun today will ruin your hands..."

"They're fine...I'll put some sun block on 'em if it gets bad later...I'll show you..." she explained to Buffy's puzzled look...

Hope Angel isn't pining too much in LA...Dawn sighed to herself...This isn't lookin' too good for him, however it turns out...

Hmmn...She eyed her hands surreptiously...

"Dawn..." Buffy, hesitant... "Will she help me?..."

"Hmmn?..." brightly…

"You know what I mean and to whom I'm referring…I was not so 'pished' as to forget the whole evening…"

"Buffy, even if she could…And Osiris, the dead god guy, was plenty pissed after she tried to get Tara back…"

Old lover, shot by Warren Mears…Dawn explained…

"Warren…?"

"Old enemy…Defleshed by Willow..."

"We really must spend an evening writing all this up for me...Well, I'll deal with Osiris if he makes complaint…He and I have met before..."

"I guess you have...What, three times now?..."

"Besides that...I mean on Earth...A little affair in 1877 involving the dead of London's graveyards..."

"Giles won't allow it…"

"I'll…Speak…" she paused… "To him about it…After we confirm that this skeleton indeed is mine…" she indicated herself…

"Buffy...Giles is not your other Watcher guy...He's a good..."

"He would have killed my husband's revived soul without consideration or mercy..." grim voice... "You expect me to thank him for his tender care of my interests...?"

"It was for you...He thought anyway..."

"It was not for me...I don't have to remember Buffy to know that...He may believe it was for Humanity as well as his Council or tell himself so but it was not for me..."

"None of us helped Will, Buffy...He's no more to blame than any of us..."

"I haven't killed him...I'm willing to negotiate with him and his Council...That's as far as I will go right now, Dawn...As for allowing him to interfere in any attempt of mine to recover Will...I'll show him as much consideration as he showed my poor husband..."

"Buf...I don't believe William would want you to blame yourself like this...I understand you feel guilty..."

"Yes..." Buffy nodded... "And all-in-all, I'd say I have reason to...I chose him and never warned him what he could face...I went to Simon like a fool for help and agreed to let Halfreck drive him away...I let him wander off to meet Drusilla...I didn't find him later...And this only in my life, regardless of my one here...Yes, Dawn...After ending his life before it even began and condemning him to an Unliving death...The guilt's so thick I taste it with each bite...Feel it with every breath..."

"But he's also my husband...I made a vow to him...And most of all, whether all that isn't enough...I'm in love with him...And I have been many times before..."

"Soulmates?..."

"Whether you people believe in that concept or not, yes...And I know his spirit's not at rest in Heaven...It never left Earth...I feel him, here, somewhere..."

Dawn avoiding her fixed gaze...

She is definitely not "getting over him..."...Whatever Willow and Xander were hoping...

"...I won't abandon him, Dawn...I can't...So...Will you speak for me, to Willow?..."

"Buffy, even if she were willing...And it could be dangerous for her to play with that kind of stuff again..."

"Then let her teach me...I'll do it...The risks will be mine alone...Dawn, understand me...I am going to do this...At least find him...Whatever I have to do to accomplish that...If you and the others help me, it may avoid my having to turn to other assistance..." she looked out over the plaza...Her face set...Severe...

"Henri?..."

"He would try to help...But he's avoided magics for many years, even before his redemption...And no doubt he'll have his reservations...But there are others...And if I must turn to them..."

"Great...Is that what William would want?...You risking your soul?...Turning to Evil to get him back?...And probably getting the shaft in the bargain...Spike or your own demon..."

"Then...Help me, sister..." Buffy looked at her... "Just speak to Willow...Listen, Dawn...I won't force her to do anything dangerous for her...I might even settle for just a chance to speak to Will...Make sure his soul is safe...Surely that's not too much to ask..."

"A seance, you mean?..."

"Whatever..." slight grin... "Has she done those?..."

"Not really that I know of...But..."

"I'd prefer the resurrection..."

"I got that..." Dawn frowned... "I'll do this much for you...If you are my sister...If we have proof this is you, your soul in there..." she touched her arm gently... I'll speak to Willow, and if she's willing to try at least to reach Will, I'll help...Even if I have to keep it from Giles...But, Buffy...That's only if you really are Buffy...And only if Willow feels it's not too dangerous for you or her..."

Fair enough...And wise..." Buffy nodded... "I see I did a few things right with you, girl..." she smiled...Rising...

"I see some places are opening...Lets get some café au lait and something to put some meat on these bones...You should have an umbrella for this sun, Dawn..." She opened the one she'd brought from the hotel... "You'll be popping with freckles..." she held the open umbrella over them both...

I thought it was strange her bringing that when there's wasn't a cloud in the sky...Dawn shook her head...

"Promise me one thing, Buffy..." she paused...

"Yes?..."

"If you're not my sister...If you're some spirit or demon...If I've been a fool to trust you a little like I am here..."

"I've not consciously lied to you, Dawn...I can't be sure what I am...But I haven't lied..."

"Just promise me..." Dawn grinned wanly... "You'll give me the Big Bad's gloat of victory speech alone, before you make your move or whatever...Not in front of the guys...So I don't look too much like a chump in front of everybody..."

"If I learn that...That I'm something Evil or find myself a tool of Evil...I'll do my best to let you expose and destroy me...I promise that, Dawn... " Buffy nodded... "But I don't believe I am...Though angry, yes certainly..."

"I hope so...You know I wanna believe it...And it's hard to imagine the First or something like her trying so hard to protect me from modern dress and the sun..." Dawn paused... "Hot chocolate and something fattening sounds good, lets go..."

Hmmn...She eyed her hands again as they started off...Buffy trying to hold the umbrella over them both...

Maybe not such a bad idea at that...She moved closer under the umbrella...

9:30 am...Rome...

"Dawn?..." Willow eyed a yawning Dawn as the reunited group sat at an outdoor café, suggested by the newly arrived Immortal... "Did you get any sleep last night?..."

"Yeah..." Dawn nodded, yawning again...Not looking at Willow...Buffy giving her a wry grin...

"It's my fault, Willow..." Buffy said... "I needed to get some fresh air this morning...Dawn, you should go back and rest after we finish..."

"I'm fine..."

"Now this sounds like the Miss Addams I knew..." Henri smiled... "I don't think you ever rose later than six am even that last day..."

"Didn't want to miss a minute of it, I suppose..." Buffy nodded... "Life..." she explained... "After all, a Slayer can't expect too much of it...And I needed every minute to find Will...So...?" she eyed Henri...

"You and Henry confronted Simon...And he told you...?"

"He admitted Halfreck's story was true...He'd made arrangements with D'Hoffryn...It appears the vengeance lord wanted you for his troupe, Cicely..."

Andrew carefully noting down on a pad...Nodding at the name...Holds with the current info at the three best web sites on the D man, he noted to Willow...

"I remember...He came to me just..." Buffy brushed it off... "I'd thought he was Death...He certainly looked it...But then he offered and I knew he was Halfreck's D'Hoffryn...Obviously, I didn't accept..."

So we hope...Willow thought...

"And Henry killed him...Simon?"

"Self-defense...Farris had no intention of letting him live with the knowledge he had...I suppose he intended to deal with me as best he could later...But he underestimated our Henry..." faint smile...Glance to Xander...

"I see...Did he?...Did he give any explanation?...Was it just orders?..."

"He told Henry he would never give you up...To any man, let alone William..."

"He told me he'd help me..." Buffy shook her head... "I loved him more than my Papa at times...And he did this..."

"Men and women do wonderful and horrible things for love, Cicely...I have learnt that the very hardest of ways..." Henri sighed...

"I wish I'd been born deformed...Hideous..." she twisted in her chair...

"I don't believe it was simply beauty that attracted him, Cicely...The man worshiped power from all accounts of his time as Chairman...He saw his chance for power in you..."

"Then I wish I'd never been called...Never been born..."

"Cicely..."

"Buffy..." Willow reached to touch her hand... "This wasn't your fault..."

"I killed my mother when I was born..." Buffy said quietly... "And Papa never forgave me for it...And I worse than killed the man I loved...And our child...I even destroyed the man who trained me..."

"You saved millions...Billions of people, Buffy..." Xander cut in... "What happened, happened...And mostly wouldn't have happened if other folks hadn't wanted to hurt you...William doesn't blame you and neither does your kid..." he smiled at her... "This is Henry talking, Cicely...Enough of this guilt crap...You came here to do something positive...Not to wallow..."

She looked at him...Grinned wanly...

"I suppose so..." she nodded...

No, I am not possessed...Xander hissed to a nervous Willow...It's fine...

"Henri?...Do you have...?" Buffy'd turned back to the Immortal...Who nodded...

"Right here, my girl..." he put a small bag on the table...

"Farris' agents took everything they could but they did not get these..." he noted... She nodding in turn, opening the bag...

Willow, Olive, Xander, Dawn, Andrew all leaning to see...Andrew writing feverishly...

"Mostly the things I found to use on William..." Buffy explained... "One of which turned out to be quite a useful demon expulsion device...Here..." she offered a small black ball to Willow... "You can use it when we get to England...After Mr. Giles is satisfied it works...Henri can vouch for its ability..."

"Indeed..." he nodded...

"This...?" Dawn stared... "This little thing drove your demon out?..."

"Good things, small packages..." Henri nodded... "But handle it with a little respect, it is quite powerful when fully charged...Not to mention containing the mass of several multiple universes..."

Whoa...Willow stared... "Doesn't seem that heavy..." she gingerly put it on the table...

"Gravity negation...It's perfectly balanced at a quantum level...And quite harmless in its current state..." he reassured the others... "But within its harmony an absolute beauty and the truest magic I have ever encountered..."

"Just something I picked up in a little shop..." Buffy noted... "Of course the shop was in another dimension and I had to win a little contest against some creatures to get it...But..." she felt inside the bag...

"...And this..." she paused...Pulling out a ring...Large gold band...Which she kissed and placed on her finger...

"That's..."

"Yes..." she nodded to Dawn's question... "My wedding ring...Thanks, Henri..."

"I did have quite an argument with the matron...I thought I might have to put her under..." he grinned... "Fortunately things were busy that evening and other staff remembered seeing me with you..."

"It's a beaut..." Dawn smiled... "Thanks, Immortal guy..." she grinned to Henri who grinned back...

"And this..." Buffy looked at Dawn... "I guess this is for you..." she handed Dawn a small leather-covered book...A clasp holding it shut...

"My diary..." she explained... "I meant it for my daughter...And I suppose, if I am Buffy..." she smiled...

"Thanks..." Dawn took the book quietly...Stroking the binding gently...

"Will's book?..." Buffy eyed Henri who shook his head... "I'm afraid that and other items were taken by Farris' people..."

"Then the Council may still have them...Good..." Buffy nodded... "I'm due to pay them a visit shortly anyway...I'll see if I can persuade them to give up what they robbed from my corpse..."

Willow glanced at Xander, Olive...

"Such worried faces...People...I don't plan mayhem...Just to strongly urge that my property be returned and all records of the Council be opened to me..." Buffy smiled...A hard look behind the eyes...

"Be cautious, Cicely...With yourself as well as the Council..." Henri noted... "You have too much to lose to let anger dominate your soul..."

"I know..." she nodded, smiling again... "And I wouldn't wish to have my good old...And new...Friends disappointed in me..."

Ah, she beamed as a smiling waiter brought over an enormous, loaded tray... "At last a real breakfast..Henri, you will not believe what these people consider breakfast..."

Afraid I would...he noted wryly..."I occasionally travel to America..."

Willow eyeing Olive...We are gonna need corsets after this trip...

"Dawn, make sure you try the pie and mash...You need something to fill out those cheeks..."

"What's the green stuff?..."

"Parsley sauce..." Olive explained...

Hmmn...Dawn eyed Willow...Well...

"You did use the water from the stewed eels, Giuseppe?..." Buffy asked the waiter...Who nodded, pleased to find a young lady who nodded, pleased to find a young lady who not only appreciated the finer things but remembered a waiter's name...Though he could not himself quite remember the lady's last visit...

Willow and Dawn pausing in mid-fork lift...Xander and Andrew carefully pushing the newly uncovered dish of eels away...

"Yanks..." Olive grinned to Buffy as they dug in...

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XVI...

London...

An auditorium...Placard in rather staid type pronouncing the meeting of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists...Temporary facilities...

"Ladies and gentlemen...Please be seated..." the standing figure of Rupert Giles at podium brought the moment of silence in memoriam to an end...

"Let it be noted in the minutes that this will be our first fully-attended conference since the disaster..." he turned to a recording secretary, who nodded...

"You have all read the reports of our progress in organizing training for the activated Slayers..." he noted... "We will review the progress of each sector later...As for the situation in Los Angeles, Dr. Wyndham-Price will shortly present his report...For our first order of business, I should like to discuss the disturbing matter which has arisen with regard to my own Slayer, Buffy Summers..."

"Sir...?" a raised hand...

"Ms. Slingo...?" Giles nodded...

"We are still without a Chairperson...And department heads are still only acting status..."

"At this time, Ms. Slingo, we have not yet completed procedures for a round of elections..."

"Given we have a quorum, I move we appoint an interim Chairperson today..."

"I second..." a Mr. Zhang rose to second the motion... "While I commend the work done by the surviving Inner Council, with so many Slayers activated at once, the Council needs strong leadership immediately..."

"Very well...Show of hands..." Giles called...Hands up in profusion... "The motion to elect an interim Chairperson is hereby passed..."

"Dr. Wyndham-Price...?" he noted the hand raised...

Roger Wyndham-Price, bearded, distinguished, rose... "Given the situation and his work to save our organization in the past few months, I move to nominate Rupert Giles as Chairman and call for an immediate vote..."

"Seconded..." A Ms. Sinclair of the US rose...

Giles put up a hand... "I appreciate the support but let us try to follow procedure...Does anyone propose another candidate?...Very well..." he eyed the silent group... "I nominate Dr. Roger Wyndham-Price..."

"I decline, with thanks..." Roger rose to reply... "And again call for an immediate vote..."

"Seconded..." Mr. Zhang rose...

Hands in profusion again...

"Accept fate, Rupert..." Roger grinned... "Your carefree days of the field are over...Ladies and gentlemen...Our new Chairman..."

Applause...Lengthy and overwhelmingly sincere...

"Very well...Chairperson..." Giles corrected... "And if I may say, Mr. Vice-Chairperson ..." he eyed Roger... "Welcome to the salt mines..."

"Accepted..." Roger nodded...

"I thank the Council for this honor and its trust...Now then...If we may proceed to the matter I wished to discuss...Lights..." he waved to an aide on the platform seated at table who manipulated a laptop's controls...The room darkened...A projection on the screen behind Giles now showed a double image... A portrait of a young, pale-faced, slender brunette in long gown, with a wistful expression...And a picture of Buffy Summers, taken in LA just before her departure for Rome, in hat, blouse, rather antique-looking jacket, long skirt, gloves...Wistful expression that in some astounding, mysterious way, matched that of the woman to her left...

The group in the auditorium giving a repressed, collective gasp...Whispering throughout...

"As you can see, we have good reason to believe this organization may again be in serious jeopardy..." Giles began...

Rome... One pm...

"Dawn..."

"NO...No way..." Dawn shook her head...

"Dawn, it's just a shawl...To protect your shoulders..." Buffy fingered the heavy black shawl hanging on shopcart...

"I'll look like a Italian grandma...No..." with emphasis... "You said I could wear what I want when we got to Rome...I'm conservative compared to most of the girls here..." she glanced at a passing shopper...Breasts emphatically on display...Buffy averting eyes...Frowning at the staring Xander...

Mr. Wells at least apparently minding his manners...Engrossed in reading something from a cart proclaiming itself in Italian and English to be the latest word in something called "Manga!"

"Buf...Dawn really doesn't look too..." Willow clammed as Buffy eyed her...Coldly...

"This is simply to protect your skin...Dawn, you have a lovely complexion..." Buffy tried again...

"I'm fine...I'm wearing a good sun block..." she moved away to another cart in the street where they'd been strolling...An eager seller buttonholing the young woman to buy some antique jewelry, right from one of the empress' tombs...He assured her...

"You were a great help..." Buffy hissed to Willow...

"Buf...This is 2003, not 1880..." Willow sighed...

"I'm not asking her to cover her legs and wear a veil...Just...Willow, your own magazine said pregnancy was rampant among young women..."

"Dawn is not going to get pregnant in Rome today..." Willow insisted...

I hope...She couldn't help eyeing the small horde of young men regarding the young American girl now moving on to a cart loaded with religious items...Portraits of Christ, the Virgin, saints... Very ancient, the seller noted...

Hmmn...Maybe a shawl's not a bad thing...For the skin and all...

"Salvatore..." Henri had joined Dawn at the cart... "Still trying to foist these things on the tourists...?"

"Your Benevolence..." the seller nodded respectfully... "You know that everything I sell is certified..."

"I know everything you sell was painted by your mother the night before...And the paint's still wet on this one..." Henri nodded at one particularly antique-looking, yet rather shiny Madonna...

"But as they are actually excellent works, I would recommend them...At half the price he's asking..." he told Dawn...

"Your Benevolence..." Salvatore, reproachfully... "How is a poor man who must support a family to live...?"

All right...Buffy whispered to Willow... "Long as Henri chaperones, I'll hold off..."

"You should know Signor Poverty went to Yale Business School...On a scholarship from my foundation..." Henri smiled to Dawn... "And owns a chain of stores selling these things throughout Europe..."

"For the young lady...A discount..." Salvatore hastily noted...Eyeing the crowd about his cart...

"Sandler...Sand...ler..." Buffy called, sternly... "Take my arm...And put you eye back in its proper field of view..."

"Yeah...You..." Willow teased... "My arm, too...Mr. Foxcroft..."

"So, Olive..." Buffy turned to her "niece, multiply removed"... "Did you speak to your brother?..."

"Everyone's dying to meet you, Cicely..." she nodded... "Edward's getting permission to show you the old place..."

"My family's townhouse..." Buffy explained to Xander's and Willow's looks... "Olive told me it's still there, barely touched at all..."

"But not for sale, I'm afraid..." Olive noted...

"You're thinking of living in England?..." Willow eyed Buffy...

"I just wanted to know...It would have been something to think about, living in my own old home..."

"Probably would creep Dawn out, Buffy..." Xander noted...

"Might have been 'creepy' for me too, at that... But I will be glad to see the place...It was a beauty in its day, Willow...You've got to come with me to see it..."

"Sure...Love to..." a bit hesitant...

"That is, of course, if I'm still here after our little exorcism..." Buffy noted... "Which will be first order of business after I see the family..."

"Ok..." Willow nodded...

"Sandler?...Go tell Dawn to buy something if she wants it and come over..."

"Mr. Wells?...Andrew?..." Buffy called to the reading Andy...

"Olive needs an escort...Let her buy that for you if you want it and come along...So...Willow?..."

Hmmn?...Willow looked from eyeing Andy's stack of manga and graphic novella...Gotta borrow a few of those...

"...About Sandler..." Buffy, confidential tone...

Hmmn?...

"Well...I guess he has always been a big brother type to you..." Willow noted... "So maybe there is something to this 'Henry' business..."

"Yes...But, I was wondering if you thought...Well...He and Dawn..."

"Dawn?..."

"...I know he's in mourning...But wouldn't it be a fine match?...I mean you not being interested and all..."

"Xander and Dawn?..."

"I'd certainly feel secure trusting her to him...And she's so clearly..."

"Dawn?...In Xander?..."

"Why, of course...I wouldn't suggest it if she weren't fond of him..."

Oh...Fond...

Fond is good...Fond's ok...Our dear pixilated Buffy and her quaint 19th century notions...

"I think Dawn wants someone she loves...Much as she likes Xander...And he likes her...See, Buffy..."

"I'm sure it is love...Or will be when she's a little older and understands the meaning of the word...Besides...True love has its place and all that but shared interests, shared decency...Experience together...Those are also important..." she sighed at Willow's stare... "I'm sure you think this is all antiquated reasoning, Willow, but even when I chose William I thought of more than just that rush of..."

Love...? The only thing Willow had heard...

Dawn...Loves...Xander?...

My Xander...?

Ummn, Anya's Xander...Poor Anya who's only been moldering in her grave a few...Who deserves a decent, lengthy period of...

"Anyway, if you would speak to Sandler about it...Just sound him out on it when you feel the time is right...She's young yet..."

"And will be going to college...Soon..."

"Really?...College?..." Buffy looked over at Dawn... "I am impressed...Well, still...That's no obstacle, is it?...I was going to attend classes at Cambridge while Will finished his degree..."

"Like you say...She's young yet..." Willow muttered... "What makes you think she loves Sandler...Xander...?"

"Willow...The way she lights up every time he enters the room?...Haven't you noticed?...Perhaps being new to you all, I'm seeing something you're too close to...But...Besides, she told me when she was small she had a mash..."

"Crush..."

"Right, 'crush'...On him...And I'd guess that 'crush' has never quite..."

"She probably had a crush on Spike too, you know..." Willow, hastily...

"Yes, she told me that too...And that was very sweet, if somewhat foolhardy on your people's part when he was caring for her alone...But I think I've seen something real here..." Buffy smiled warmly...

"Really?..." Willow looked over to where Xander had joined Henri and Dawn by the cart...

Nah...She blinked...

Nah...

No...Way...

Oh, my God...She eyed Dawn's beaming face as Xander made a joke or some remark to her...

Ignoring the god-like beauty of His Benevolence...Which by now had attracted a horde of circling, rather adoring, young women and not a few young men...

"They do make such a fine couple..." Buffy nudged her...

London...

Temporary offices of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists...Office of the Chairperson...Acting, pending formal election, by the new Chairperson's insistence...

"Congratulations..." Dr. Wyndham-Price raised a glass of fine gin smuggled in past the watchful eye of Magda, the Council secretary... "I'd drink it, Rupert...You'll be needing it..."

"I suppose so..." Giles nodded, swallowing half his glass...

"So...You really believe the worst has happened..." Roger leaned back... "Cicely Walthrop is back?...This isn't a trick of the First's...A demonic effort...?"

"No..." Giles shook his head... "I observed her carefully...There was no struggle or evidence of aural repression..."

"Buffy could have let herself be deceived..." Roger pointed out... "Her guilt over Walthrop..."

"Roger...We've known all our years with the Council that one day our greatest Slayer would return...When the times required it and Humanity needed her...We've suspected Buffy Summers was that same Slayer since she was activated...I've little doubt of it now..." he sighed...

"But if an accident, an aberration triggered it..."

"I intend to leave no stone unturned to determine if there's any room for doubt, Roger...But I know Cicely is back...And I know..."

"But Miss Summers loved you...Surely we can appeal to that..."

"Even Buffy was ready to turn on me after I tried to prevent her from associating with William's soul...For the moment at least, Cicely is dominant...And even if she recovers her Buffy existence...I have my doubts any memories of our relationship will restrain her...Once she knows all..."

"The Council did what it believed was necessary, Rupert...It is too bad we were misled by Farris in part but in the end we would have been forced to the same decision...Humanity had to have a Slayer, dedicated to the salvation of Humanity..."

"It's an old debate, Roger...And pointless to take it to her..."

"Then we'll have no other recourse?..." Roger asked...Giles stared at him... "It seems a cruel choice, Ripper..."

"If we had William to offer her, there might be an alternative...But, we do not..."

"Angel...Sacrificed?...He took this action on our instigation, Ripper..."

"I know...But he knew we would have to disavow him in any case...And Cicely must have a target for her wrath...Besides the Council..."

Wyndham-Price put down his empty glass...Staring...

"I know it means putting Wesley at risk, Roger..." Giles nodded... "But it may not come to an outright war...She won't wish to risk the lives of Slayers unnecessarily..."

"He knew the dangers when he and Angel agreed to this little charade..." Roger sighed... "But I do not want my son to throw his life away uselessly, Ripper..."

"This may work to the benefit of the whole scheme, Roger...If Cicely denounces Angel, accepts that he has joined the ranks of Evil...The Partners will be all the more inclined to accept his turning over the next year..."

"And if she demands an assault...?"

"We urge caution...Assessment...And if necessary..."

Roger rose...Pacing...

"Roger, our hold on the new Slayers is tenuous at best...Our ranks are thin...Many of the new Slayers are proving susceptible to the Partners' offers, or simply unwilling to join the fight...Only Buffy...As Buffy or Cicely...Can lead them...If she turns against us...Most of the Slayers will follow her to whatever position she chooses to take...The Council itself may split...Our greatest victory over Evil turned to ashes by our own Slayer...And the nightmare of Slayers fighting on both sides will come to pass...Our only hope is to win her back to us by admitting our guilt and..."

"Putting the blame on Angel..."

"On Angelus...And ourselves...Cicely will do the right thing and fight with us, at least in partnership, for Humanity if she believes she is also righting the wrong done to William...I know her, Roger...She is the same person I knew in Sunnydale, despite the memory shifts and surface personality changes...Roger, I know this has been hard on you already...And now..."

"How difficult can it be to denounce one's own son...?" Wyndham-Price shrugged... "And to leave him to his fate...Knowing he did this at my request...For me..."

"I pray it will not come to open battle between them...Between us...But your part will be crucial if we are to convince Cicely that Angel is the seduced traitor he and we are working to make him out to be..."

"Why not?..." Roger shrugged... "We Councilors have developed a fine talent for sacrificing those we love...Whether turned and abandoned, betrayed in the cause of the greater good...Eliminated to clear the way for a more amenable Slayer..."

"We can't know the future, Roger..." Giles sighed... Wan smile..."At least, not without violating multiple oaths and risking immediate termination..."

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XVII...

Heathrow Airport...Arrivals...

Hmmn...Buffy frowned, looking around...

"You say this is England's premier aerial center?..." she shook her head...

"They are upgrading..." Olive put in her bit for Mother England...

"My father would never have allowed things to come to such a pass...The Empire's survival depends on her transport and lines of communication...If aerial transport has supplanted shipping, England should have the world's premier aerial center..."

"Well, it's not bad..." Dawn noted... "And we are Americans, Buffy..."

"Hmmn...Yes...Perhaps I should put in for dual citizenship...Mr. Wells informs me that's quite frequently done though the Yanks...Us Yanks..." she grinned at Dawn's frown... "Don't recognize the UK status..."

Exactly...Andrew nodded...

"We do tend to focus on Europe more these days..." Olive noted... "So our trans-oceanic needs aren't quite that of the US..."

"I'm proudly Californian..." Dawn insisted... "No offense, Olive, but I'm staying that way..."

"Fine..." Buffy put up a hand... "Anyway who knows where the wind will eventually blow us...Perhaps even back to the benighted shores of California..."

"Hey..." Xander frowned now... "California been berry, berry good to Buffy..."

Buffy stared at him...He nodding to Willow who nodded back...

"Right...Well, sorry...Retracted..."

"Accepted..." Willow noted...

"Europe, eh?..." Buffy shook her head to Olive... "Doesn't sound wise to me...Father always said..."

"There's Giles!..." Dawn was waving...

"I see he's not a Watcher to waste a moment...Wish we'd not contacted him so soon about our coming..." Buffy said quietly to Willow...

"Buf...For our sakes..."

"Of course..." she nodded... "I just mean I'd've liked a little time to see London first before I may have to leave this world..." she raised an arm to wave...A reasonably friendly smile on face...

Dawn, troubled glance her way...

"Who's the gentleman with him?..." Buffy asked Willow...Who shook her head...New to me...

"Mr. Wells..." Giles nodded to Andrew who presented him with a rather well-filled folder... "Report of our activities, sir..." he noted... "Just a summary but I can provide a more detailed..."

"I appreciate it, Andrew...I'll review it carefully later...Hello, Willow...Buffy...Dawn..." Giles smiled at the group...Willow stepping to him for a hug...Dawn hanging back just slightly...Glancing to a slightly forlorn Olive whom Giles was clearly set upon ignoring...

"Congrats, Mr. C..." Willow told him, breaking contact and standing back... "You look the part..."

"Hardly..." he sighed...

She eyed him carefully... "Things went well..." she noted quickly...He, nodding...

"Rupert..." Buffy stepped forward...Opened arms just a bit stiffly...

"Rome?..." he asked...As she quickly released him after a brief embrace...

Progress...A little...Willow hopefully noted to Xander...He eyed her...Uh-huh...

Well, no kiss of death, at least...Unless that was the ole "embrace of death"...

"As Willow says...It went well..." Buffy nodded to Giles...

"The Immortal?..."

"Benevolent as ever and very helpful..." she stepped back to allow Xander to offer a hand which Giles shook...

"And as Willow says...Congrats...Mr. Chairguy..." Xander grinned...

"Thanks, Xander...Oh, let me introduce our new Vice-Chairperson, Dr. Roger Wyndham-Price..."

"Wesley's dad?..." Willow looked at the tall, bearded man...

"As charged, yes..." Roger nodded...

"Quite a guy, your son..." Willow smiled...

"I hope so..." Roger replied, a bit abruptly...Willow eyeing Xander...

"Doctor..." Buffy offered Roger a gloved hand...

"Mrs. Walthrop...An honor..." he noted...Shaking her hand gently...

"Thank you..." Buffy nodded... "But my friends prefer I use my modern name..."

"Walthrop's ok in England..." Dawn said, suddenly... "This is your turf, after all..."

"Thanks..." Buffy smiled..."But lets get confirmation before I lay claim...As to that, Mr. Giles...?"

"We believe we do have an adequate series of tests ready for you, Buffy..." he nodded... "Though I want you to have a full physical and neurological work-up before we try anything..."

"Sounds extremely medical..." Buffy frowned... "Didn't you have that done in California...?"

"That was a baseline...Things may well have changed over the past few days..."

"Fine..." she waved a hand... "I trust I'll be favorably impressed that British medical science has kept pace with the Yanks...Us Yanks..." she corrected...Grin to Dawn...

"May I ask, Mrs. Walthrop?..." Roger cut in... "Have you had no memories of your life as Miss Summers since your...Awakening...?"

"None that I can be sure of, Dr. Wyndham-Price…" she shook her head… "And I have followed my American neurologist's suggestion to monitor my unconscious memories as to motor skills and so on…I've learnt a bit on how to use some of the simpler modern items..."

Xander rolling eyes...And wait till Giles gets the bill for those lessons from the hotel back in LA...I wonder if they ever did get the blender out of that ceiling...

Thank God we chose an older Italian place minus most modern tech and Dawn stuck to her like glue...

"But…Nothing instinctive that I or my friends could definitively point to…" she concluded... "Excepting perhaps a rather strong sense for the fashions of our respective eras...Though that obviously could be merely a happily shared coincidence..."

"We tried 'Trivial Pursuit' a few times…" Dawn noted… "She flopped on everything modern…"

"But aced...'Aced?..." Buffy eyed Dawn...

Aced, Dawn nodded...

"...Aced everything pre-1880...So the brain-pan seems to be functioning well..."

"Well, suppose we get you settled at your hotel…" Giles suggested… "Your tests can be done tomorrow morning if you feel ready..."

"We were going to see my old home tomorrow..." Buffy looked to Olive… "Would there be time?..."

"I'm sure there'll be plenty of time in the afternoon…The primary test will actually be fairly quick... Are you sure the house is intact?..."

"Olive says so…" Buffy nodded to Olive…Who shyly eyed Giles… "The family kept the house for a long time and has a connection within the law firm that purchased it recently…"

"I see…Good…" Giles said, a bit abruptly...

"Mr. Giles...?" Buffy asked...

"Yes, Buffy?..."

"If I could overlook the murder of my family and the attempted second murder of my husband for the greater good, don't you think you might possibly be able to behave civilly to my niece?...She was, after all, only trying to do her Duty as you were yours..." sweet tone, inscrutable smile

"Certainly...I apologize if I was rude, Ms. Knowles..." he nodded briefly to Olive...Who made a nervous 'not a problem' gesture...

"Thank you..." Buffy nodded...

"I did say...'If'..." she smiled again...Brushing a loose hair back under her sweeping hat...

Dinner...

An animated Buffy, seated with her newly-arrived, newfound "nephew" of sorts, Olive's brother Edward and several Knowles and Walthrop "cousins"...Eagerly attending the family history of the last century-plus...

Willow from her seat to Buffy's right a bit perturbed to see Giles and Roger kept somewhat at bay by the Knowles-Walthrops...Who, despite Buffy's requests to regard the Watchers as her dear friends, seemed to have instinctively sensed her coolness toward them...

Dawn and Xander, however, sources of considerable fascination for them...One older "cousin" a lovely, vigorous, white-haired lady of seventy who'd sobbed in Buffy's arms on meeting her, declaring that Dawn was the image of the photos of Amelia Walthrop Foxcroft...Which rather to Dawn's stunned surprise was proven true on the display of said photos...While Xander resigned himself to yet another new name, politely responding to several of the older family members' "Henry" calls...

"I am sorry we couldn't keep the house for you, Cicely..." the white-haired "cousin" apologetically noted... "But it was needing major renovation..."

"Nonsense, Mary..." Buffy shook her head... "It's just a house...Life goes on and you needed to go on as well...I'm glad the place was preserved, though..."

"Cousin Martin at the firm isn't up on your history but he does try to watch over the place…And Edward just started with him, so he'll help preserve things…" Olive told her... "Only six of us in each generation are told the story...And poor Philip died at Sunnydale, so we do get stretched thin at times…"

"I'm truly sorry..." Buffy nodded... "But I am grateful...I know it must have cost all of you a great deal to try and keep track of William all these years...I hope you'll accept my thanks..." she smiled at the group... "As his as well..."

"I wish we could have done more..." Edward, a brown-haired, tall man, slightly younger than his sister, replied... "We did consider trying to destroy him at times over the years...But you'd told Henry to leave Spike to you...And frankly we weren't exactly a group up to the job of fighting William the Bloody..."

"If the Council couldn't...With their abilities and reasons for doing so…And the Slayer...I could hardly expect you to...I'm just glad Spike never realized you were monitoring him...He might have acted against you...To Will's regret..."

"But..." a younger cousin, Amelia...Blonde, a bit on the heavy side... "You don't remember meeting William in this life?...After he regained his soul?..."

"No..." Buffy said quietly... "My last clear memory is poor Henry...Telling him what he passed on to you...As for Miss Summers...As yet, nothing...But the exorcism tomorrow may resolve that question..."

"It was beautiful, though...I cried to hear of it when Olive and Philip told us they'd seen..." Amelia paused...A bit embarrassed...Nervous smile... "At last it seemed like..."

"Olive's told me some of what she saw..." Buffy, hesitant... "And my friends have tried to fill in the rest..."

"I suppose we did border on the intrusive..." Olive noted, wan smile... "But it was with good intentions...And we did manage to occasionally do something to drive Spike off from prey..."

"It is hard..." Buffy said quietly...All looking at her... "Not to remember what I should more than anything in life wish to remember...Meeting him again…"

"You saved him..." Amelia, gently... "That's the main thing..."

"It's not enough for me, I'm afraid..." Buffy replied... "I'm not unselfish enough to simply rejoice that he was free at the end...Though I do...I truly do..." Catch in her voice...

"We're all proud of you both, Cicely..." Edward noted... "Welcome home to England...And your...Other family..." he raised a glass as did the other Knowles-Walthrops and then the rest...

"Thank you..." she wiped tears...Nodding...

"You're going to let the Council...?" the older woman, Mary...Eyed Giles briefly... "Is that wise, Cicely?..."

"I can't keep a body that doesn't belong to me, Mary..." Buffy sighed... "I have to know I have a right to stay here...Before I can decide what to do next...And if she is not truly me, then I owe Buffy Summers an enormous debt…That much at the very least…"

"Some of us should be there..." Edward said firmly... "The Council would have good reason to get rid of Cicely whether she is Miss Summers or no...I don't trust them...No..." he looked at Giles firmly... "I'm sorry but I must be blunt...You people killed Cicely and William and lied to Miss Summers about her past...Why should we trust you now?..."

"Edward..." Olive, gently...

"Giles wouldn't hurt Buffy..." Dawn insisted quickly...

"I don't doubt it..." Edward replied... "But he tried to kill William and he has no such restraints regarding Cicely..."

Giles silent...The other Knowles-Walthrops quiet but glancing at him...

"Mr. Knowles..." Roger spoke up... "We've nothing to gain here, harming Cicely...Even if we didn't lose Buffy in such a process, she would know what we'd've done...And we need her...With or without Cicely...To help us with the new Slayers and new threats that are developing..."

"Willow will be there..." Buffy, reassuringly... "She won't let anything untoward be done...She's my best friend...After William, of course..."

"You may of course have whomever you wish present, Buffy..." Giles said quietly...

"Why did you...Your Council...Do this terrible thing, Mr. Giles?..." Amelia asked abruptly... "I don't mean to offend but what possible reason could justify this?..."

"Miss Walthrop..." Giles looked round the table... "Our Council has labored for many centuries for the salvation of Humanity...I am sorry but the Slayer has been the essential piece in that salvation...And there was only one...Until now...Humanity had to have a Slayer committed solely to fighting for its defense..."

"So this means what, Giles?..." Xander eyed him... "If Buffy had hooked up with Angel or Riley permanently...You and your boys would have killed her?...Or them?..."

"It means, Xander...We would have reviewed the situation...And if necessary, appealed to both Buffy and her partner to consider the fate of Humankind..."

"You never did!..." Buffy rose from her chair, fury in her face, suddenly... "You never...Never...Gave us a chance!..." she was trembling... Fists clenching...

Waiters, the manager eyed her...Even the Knowles-Walthrops startled by her outburst...

Buffy...Willow hissed...

She calmed, blinked... "Sorry...Sorry, Rupert...That was uncalled for..." she sat down...

Willow eyeing Xander...Xander cautiously urging her by glances to look towards Dr. Wyndham-Price...Who sat rather motionless in his chair...Staring at her...

"We have all suffered too, Cicely..." he said, quietly, at last... "With God knows how much more to endure before the battle is finally won..."

"Yet you have had a family, raised a son..." Buffy pointed out... "All things the Council wishes to deny its Slayers...And was ready to kill to deny me..."

"And have lost him...Perhaps...If he has followed Angel onto a new, dark path..." he noted quietly…

She looked at him...Carefully...

"Then what are you doing here, sir...?" she asked...

"Buffy..." Giles tried...

"No..." she put up a gloved hand... "Doctor, your son may be ready to fall into a sink of Evil...And if so, I or some other Slayer may one day have to kill him...Perhaps with the same Council seal of approval based on Humanity's salvation used in my case..."

The group about the table staring...

"...Yet you sit here, doing nothing to save him?...May I tell you, sir, what I would do in your place?..."

"By all means..." Roger said, calmly...

"I would go to LA immediately and do whatever it took to get him away..." she said, equally quiet and composed...

"I am considering that, Mrs...Miss Summers..." he nodded...

"Understand this..." she looked round... "All of you...I am willing to be reasonable...I do not wish to steal the life of Buffy Summers, if that is what I am doing...And I will go quietly into the dark if that is so...But...If I am Buffy Summers, simply reopening a vein of her life long closed to her...If Buffy Summers is Cicely Walthrop...Then from the moment we confirm that...I will do whatever it takes to find and hopefully, restore my husband...Have no doubt about this...Whatever I must do, I will...And while I am becoming very fond of all of you... God help anyone who stands in my way..." Edward Knowles and several other family members nodding in agreement...

"And that, Dr. Wyndham-Price..." she eyed him, raising her glass of wine... "Is the course I recommend to you...If you love your son..."

Roger raised his glass silently to her...

The following morning...

The temporary rented facility of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists...

Laboratory area...To the general public, dedicated to restoration and analysis of ancient artifacts...

Which was, in no small part, true...Though only in part...

Buffy seated in a large, comfortable chair...Voluntarily restrained with straps...Willow at her right, Xander beside her... Dawn to her left with Olive and Edward beside her...

"Are you ready, Buffy?..." Giles stepped forward to face her...Her head for fear of injury in a protective soft helmet...She somewhat still peeved at having to doff her favorite hat...

"Buffy..." Dawn sighed... "If you want to stop now...I could live with it...With Cicely..."

"But I could not, Dawn..." she smiled back... "Not without knowing who I really am...:And if I don't belong here...I can't wait to go and find him...It will be for the best, whatever happens...Believe that..."

Dawn kissed her cheek...And moved away, to where Giles stood...

"Willow...?" Buffy looked over as best she could in the restraints...

"Right here, kiddo..."

"Remember what I said...About Dawn and...You know..." whisper...

"Matchmaker, matchmaker..." Willow whispered back..."A song...We'll rent the movie later..."

"I'd like that..." Buffy nodded...Willow moved to the table before them on which an ancient scroll was spread...Two Councilors reviewing it carefully...She began reading as well...

"Giles...I love you..." Dawn whispered to him.. "But if you or your guys pull anything here...I'll find a way to kill you all..."

"I understand..." he replied in whisper, a serious look returned to hers... "Ladies?..." he called to two Slayers, Anika and Marsha...Standing by, close by the group around Buffy... "Be vigilant and ready...Mr. Wells?."

"Ready, my Chairman..." Andrew nodded, moving video camera to side...

"Just a basic record of the proceedings, Andrew...Not "The Exorcist"..."

"Yes, Mr. Chairman..."

"Where's Sandler?..." Buffy called from her chair, anxiously...Unable to see...

"Right here, Buf..."

"I'd like to..." she paused... "May I kiss you good-bye...?"

"No..." he shook his head... "'Cause you're going nowhere...But you can kiss Henry just for the heck of it..." he smiled, coming close enough to her face for her to gently brush his cheek...

"That's for you, too...Xander..." she smiled at him...

"All right, Giles..." Willow called...Looking up from the scroll... "I guess we're ready as we ever will be..."

He nodded and moved to face Buffy...

"Good luck, Mrs. Walthrop...Please believe that I mean that..."

"I want to..." she nodded... "If we see each other again this side of Heaven or Hell, we'll smile...If not..."

"...'Then this parting was well made...'"

"Actually...I'll get permission to rip your throat out even from Heaven and come back here..."

He gave a wry smile and nodded...

"Take care of Dawn for me..." intent look…Nod…

"Thank you..." he smiled...

"Go..." Roger now waved two additional Councilors forward...Each bearing a large goblet which they, one after the other, offered to Buffy...She, sniffing, then slowly sipping...

"Lord..." she gasped...

"Buffy?..." Xander eyed her...The others tensing...

"Awful beastly stuff...Go on..." she hic-cupped...

Willow eyed Giles...Turning back to the scroll which one of the Councilors was now reading aloud...

"It's warm in here..." Buffy noted, twisting a little... "Could someone open a window, just a crack..." Hic... "You there, dark and cadaverous..." she tried to nod to one of the Watchers reading the scroll...Hic, hic...

"Is that..."Xander stared...

"No..." Willow sighed... "Well, yes, in a totally unrelated way...The stuff is 90% alcohol...Giles?...Why didn't you...?"

"How's about a song, Billow...er, Willow?..." Buffy called... "Does anyone know 'Beautiful Gem on the Water'?"

The Watchers who'd performed the ceremony in consultation with Giles...Willow likewise in conference...

"Well..." Giles...

"Well..." Willow, solemnly...

"Well...What?..." Xander, anxiously...From where he, Olive, and her brother Edward waited...Dawn granted permission to hold her sister's hand under the watchful eye of Slayer Anika...

"We'll be lucky if she doesn't kill us all..." Willow noted...

Clatter of Andrew's video camera...Dawn staring, Xander and the Knowles staring...

"She's gonna have one hell of a hang-over..." she grinned...

Buffy snoring loudly in her chair...

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XVIII...

"So?..."

"Quite the place..." Willow grinned...

"Indeed..." Buffy, undoubtedly now Buffy, as Giles had agreed to note officially in the Council archives at Dawn's stern insistence, beamed... "Father knew locations...Though he did say Mother had had a hand in choosing the place..." They looked round the huge room which had once been the Addams' ballroom...Now an office area/grandly impressive reception hall...

"Look here..." Buffy pointed to a wall... "This is the original pattern...I picked it out myself when we redid this room in 1875..."

"Nice...They've done a good match on the other walls, but this is better..."

"Took forever to find what I wanted...And what Father would accept...I wish Dawn and Sandler had come..." she sighed at end... "I know it would have been imposing on Olive's cousin for a first visit but I would have been interested to see if anything clicked for him especially..."

"Maybe next time..." Willow smiled... "Here they come..." she noted...As Olive and a distinguished-looking gray-haired man in suit came into the hallway from one of the side rooms, now an executive office...

"Mr. Knowles..." Buffy stepped forward, glove hand extended... I gotta learn how to do that sometime, Willow thought... "It is so good of you to let us look around..."

"Not at all, Mrs. Walthrop..." Knowles smiled, taking hers in his two for a moment... "When Olive and Edward told me they'd located you in America I was so pleased...I'd not known we'd made it to the States..."

"Indeed..." Buffy smiled... "Though I've kept old England to my heart...As has my husband..."

"I'm pleased to hear it...And to know you...And you, Miss Rosenberg..." he smiled, paused... "Well, what do you think?...Have we managed to get the ole girl back up to snuff?..."

"Incredible..." Willow nodded...

"It's as though...Our ancestors...Never left..." Buffy beamed... "Though I'm sure Sir Richard Addams would be rather pleased to see the place used in such a practical manner...He made it his base of operations for the most part, you know..."

"So I have not only heard..." Knowles gave a twinkling smile... "But have proof..."

Buffy's face lit up... "You have something of...Sir Richard's..."she caught herself before either Willow or Olive could intervene...

"A rather good something...Come..." he waved them along...

Buffy hurriedly pointed to an old black-and-white photo of a garden on the wall...A young man of cadaverous aspect glaring out at the viewer...Mine...She mouthed...Making gestures as if squeezing the bulb of an antique camera...Willow nodding as Olive kept up with Knowles ahead of them...

"First documented proof that vampires could be photographed..." Buffy hissed... "I spared the fellow that night on condition he stick to cows in exchange for posing..."

"He doesn't look too cooperative..."

"I was rather demanding about his pose..." Buffy shrugged... "Unfortunately he couldn't keep his word more than a week...But dust as he returned to, there he is, Immortalized..."

She paused at the door Knowles and Olive had entered...A handsome carved door, fine wood framing...

"Father's study..." she hesitated...

"You ok?..." Willow eyed her...

"I always had to ask permission to enter..." she eyed the carved door, half-open...

"So you knew how the vamps felt..." Willow teased...

"Would you care to come in, Mrs. Walthrop?..." Knowles called...

Buffy, wry grin to Willow...Who grinned back...

"Here we are..." Knowles stood by a magnificent desk...Buffy carefully reaching out to touch, then stroke the fine carved black wood...A single carved piece, she noted to Willow...

"Fortunately, our chief is away so we may have a peek..." he smiled to Buffy..."This is his office now..."

"Sir Richard would be very pleased..." she nodded...Staring at the papers in the box Knowles now opened and laid out...

"The unpublished diary of Sir Richard Addams...Not complete, unfortunately...But to a large extent..." Knowles beamed at the pages...Olive staring at them, then Buffy who stood quietly staring...Brushing back a hair under her hat nervously...

"I never knew..." she gasped...

"No, nor did anyone till it was found during the early stage of the renovations..." Knowles nodded... "I doubt anyone thought a man like Sir Richard would find time for a diary...Yet he did..."

"Yes..." Buffy nodded, carefully scanning the pages laid out... "It's his handwriting..." She closed her eyes...Swaying a little...

"Sorry..." she smiled a bit wanly at Knowles... "I think it's a bit close in here for me...Could I step out just a moment?..."

"Yeah, you better come out..." Willow agreed... "She's been going since we got here...Really overdoing it a little..."

"Of course..." Knowles, sympathetically... "May I fetch you a glass of water, Mrs. Walthrop?..."

"Yes, please..." Buffy nodded...Leaning on Willow as she stepped back into the hallway...

"You ok?..." Willow hissed as Knowles hurried off...Olive joining them..

"Just a little..." Buffy looked down... "I didn't think Father would..." she looked over to the former study... "He was never the type to rethink his actions..."

"People can surprise you..." Willow noted, smiling... "Do you want another look when Knowles gets back...?"

"Yes..." Buffy nodded... "In fact..." she turned for the room... "I've got to see it..."

"Careful..." Olive warned as Buffy approached the desk... "Those pages are quite fragile..."

"1873..." Buffy eyed the page nearest to her... "October 3rd..."

"What was I doing that day?..." she pondered... "I was sixteen and..." faint grin...

"Smike...Our footman...Caught me...Or rather I caught him trying to saunter in after a night on the town...I'd had a busy night and he thought I'd been out with someone...Tried to blackmail me into a mutual amnesia pact...Of course I told him I'd tell Father and he could bloody well do as he pleased..."

"So what happened...?" Willow asked...

"I caved, finally..." Buffy grinned... "I couldn't let Father know I'd been coming in at five am, he'd've locked me up and thrown..." she paused...

"These are out of order..." she looked at a page... "And this one has been torn..."

"1880...November...13th..."

"Probably a lot like that..." Willow noted...

"I was brought home that day..." Buffy said, quietly...She sat down in a chair next to the desk, eyeing the page...

"Was that after, your baby...?" Willow, carefully...

"After I died, Willow..." she read the page fragment quietly a moment, then aloud...

""She was brought here today...I could not look at her face...Farris said that it was peaceful...She'd been very weak and the child was too sickly...Over and done...All done...That fool boy, Henry, insisted she should be with him...Wherever that family of his put him...I had him thrown out...Never to set foot in here again...I kissed the child, my granddaughter...It was not her fault...

She would have been twenty four in January...Two months...And I am old and all's done...Enough...' The rest is torn loose...He must have torn these pages out, meaning to dispose of them..." Buffy wiped her face a moment with one hand...

"Maybe he couldn't..." Willow patted her..."I'm sorry, Cicely..."

"I'm not..." Buffy shook her head... "Sorry to leave him alone, perhaps...But for the rest of it...No...I refuse to regret a thing..." she eyed Willow, then Olive, wan smile... "I didn't die alone...Which is what I expected...I cheated them...I didn't die alone in some hole, full of anger and hate, fighting..." she cocked her head...

"I know...A hospital in those days wasn't exactly a palace...But I wasn't alone...I knew his soul was out there, searching for me...Glad I had Henry to help me..."

Mr. Knowles' return cut her reverie off...She took the water glass he offered thankfully...

"I wouldn't give up a moment of it..." she murmured... "Except..."

"Mrs. Walthrop...?" Knowles asked...

"Sorry...Just reliving old memories..." Buffy smiled... "I'm very grateful for this, Mr. Knowles...I mean the chance to see this as well as the house..."

"Of course..." he nodded... "I'm only pleased that some of the family related to both sides had the chance to see it before it goes to the public...Naturally we hope to donate it to a historical society or museum..."

"I'm sure Sir Richard would be very pleased..." she rose from the chair, Willow standing by...

"Could we see a bit more, if we're not troubling you?..."

"Not at all..." Knowles smiled... "I've a feeling I know what you'd like to see next...She being your namesake...The sitting and bedroom have not yet been renovated, though they are slated to become a part of an office suite...It's actually in quite good condition, though...Almost as Cicely left them..."

"Yes..." Buffy stared at Knowles... "I'd like to see them..."

He turned to lead them down the hall and brought them past a somewhat puzzled-looking receptionist whom he introduced as "Ms. Rose Harwood..."...To where a large and grand carved staircase led upstairs to the second floor...

"I wish Dawn could've come..." Buffy whispered to Willow as Knowles started up, Olive just behind him...

"Maybe you can show her later..." Willow patted her hand... "You ok?..." she turned to look at the hesitant Buffy...

"Yes, of course..." Buffy shook her head...Waving a gloved hand... "Just a little...Nerves..." she paused...

"I was there...Right there..." she pointed to the upper floor where a railing ran the length of the landing... "Hiding while it...Halfreck...Came down in my form...My face...Looking for him...To tell him what I..." she stopped...

"We don't have to do this..." Willow, beside, eyed her...Knowles and Olive now nearly at the top...

"Yes, we do...I do..." Buffy wanly smiled to her... And continued up the stairs, halting with Willow next to her at a small middle landing... "I don't know how I could have been so foolish as to trust in Halfreck..."

"It wasn't Haly you trusted...And he let you down, big time...It wasn't your..."

"...I let him go, Willow...I didn't go after him...Oh..." she rubbed her face... "He was so young and he trusted me so much...I wanted to die...Willow, when I saw him dead...I wanted to wait there and let him kill me...We'll be right along..." she called up to Knowles who was waiting now with Olive at the top...

"He knows you didn't do it..." whisper... "You only wanted..."

"If I hadn't taken him...Taken him like Drusilla did..." pleading...

"He loved you, Buffy...Then and now...Just like you..."

"I let him die again...Did I even care this time?..." Staring at Willow, clutching her arm... "Did I care?..."

"You cared..." Willow said, simply...Intent stare back... "More than you or any of us knew...You cared..."

"Help me..." Buffy hissed... "Please...I know you want to..."

Willow eyed the pleading face...

"Buffy...I can't..."

"Just let me speak to him...Willow, you're my only hope..." she was gripping firmly now, harsh look... "I won't make you do anything...Just teach me..."

"You're hurting me, Buffy..."

"Sorry..." Buffy relaxed her grip... "But, please...Oh, please...Just teach me enough to speak to him...Let me know all this wasn't in vain..."

"We've got to go up now...We'll talk...Later..."

"You will think about it...You promise...?"

"I will, come on..." Willow sighed...

"Thank you..."

"So that's why I had to come and not Xander, eh?..." Willow halted, staring... "You knew I'd be a push-over here...Seeing you here...Knowing it all started here..."

"I didn't mean to offend you...And I'm not trying to deceive you..." Buffy noted quietly as they now continued up at her urging... "But yes...You're a good person...I knew you'd consider it if you saw me here...Home...You've already thought about it, I know you that well already...You've known what I'm going through..."

"All right...Great...But lets get this straight...I can't bring him back..."

"Can't...Or won't?..." Buffy asked, a whisper...Cool stare...

"Whichever you prefer..." Willow...Staring back...

"Anything wrong, ladies...?" Knowles asked...Olive looking at them, puzzled...

"Not a thing...I'm sorry..." Buffy smiled... "I just wanted Willow to see how well matched the original paper up here on the staircase and landing is to the copy downstairs..."

"Well, we've done our best..." Knowles noted...Buffy nodding...

"Which is all I'd ever ask..." she whispered to Willow when Knowles had moved ahead of them again...Passing her as Willow stared after her...

"So...Summarizing your reports, Mr. Wells..." Giles addressed Andrew in chair next to his (temporary) desk in the Chairman's (temporary) office... "Buffy did not pursue her renewed contact with the Immortal beyond acquiring, at his donation, some few of the items she'd given him or lost at or after her death in 1880..."

"It seems to be so, Mr. Chairman...Funny though, considering the trouble she went to, to reach him..."

"Yes...It is interesting..."

"Of course, it did include her wedding ring..." Andrew noted...Giles eyeing him silently a moment...

"Anyway, since she did pass the examination..." Andrew paused... "We're dealing with Buffy so I suppose it's safe to assume she means no harm..."

"We believe Buffy's soul is present in her body...And that the Cicely memories and personality which have surfaced are hers...At least in part..." Giles frowned... "That does not mean we can assume anything as to Cicely's intentions..."

"But if she's Buffy, just..."

"Buffy has nearly killed friends and family when she was 'just'..." Giles noted... "All we know for sure now is that she's not possessed by demon or spirit nor is she...Within the limits of our abilities to detect...Some creature in disguise...We also know that Cicely distrusts, even hates the Council...Perhaps with just cause...And is determined to do anything to find and, if possible, retrieve William, even if it means conflict with us, even with her oldest friends...Her judgment may well be clouded...And she may be willing, at least as far as her Cicely self is concerned, to take very dangerous risks..."

"I don't think she'd do anything to harm anyone..."

"Nor do I...But, as Chairman...And as her friend, I have to take precautions...We have to know what she plans to do, Andrew...To what limits she may go...And try to find some way to win her trust back...She's desperately needed and this is not the time to lose her to some life-long, all-consuming, romantic quest..."

"Mr. Giles...I'm not willing to spy on Buffy...Even to have a place with the Council..."

"And I don't expect you to, Mr. Wells...But what I'm asking is that you do exactly what you would do should you pursue a career with us...Watch over her...Warn us if she is at risk of becoming a threat to herself or others...You may tell her that you're continuing your reports to us...She did want you to be her link to the Council..."

"If she's ok with that...But I won't do it behind her back..." Andrew shook his head...

"Mr. Wells...If I want Buffy spied upon, I assure you I have the resources to do so...I simply want her to keep a friendly link with us...Neither Willow nor Xander plan to remain with her indefinitely...We will need someone who will stay at her side...And whom she has grown to trust..."

"A Watcher..."

"A Watcher...She needs one, Andrew...And I can't be that Watcher for her anymore...I promise you, you'll be free to be as open with her as you like...And for her part, she'll want someone to report on us to her...I assure you she will be asking that of you...If she hasn't already..."

"She hasn't..." Andrew sighed... "But I guess she will, if I stay with the Council...She doesn't trust you...In the group sense, I mean..."

"Nor in the personal sense..." Giles gave a faint smile... "Though I will hope to restore that trust at least for me in time...Andrew...We need your help and so does she...Will you do this?...Will you be her Watcher?...Observer, that is, pending your completion of full training..."

"If she says ok...I guess so...But...I wouldn't count on her trusting me too far...I have hurt her, Mr. Giles..."

"We all have, Andrew...That, as I'm afraid you'll come to know in time, is the burden of being a Watcher to a Slayer...In time we must bring pain to our Slayers in some way, if only through our own deaths if not by failing them...And whatever your past, unlike me..." he smiled at Andrew... "Since you've joined us you have never failed her..."

"Will I have to?..." Andrew stared at him...

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XIX...

"So, 'Henry'…" Dawn eyed Xander as they sat in a rather crowded Starbucks near Kings Cross Station, London…She having persuaded him that if Willow and Olive got to poke around Cicely's old digs, they at least should see a little of London on their own…

Andrew, to her slight irritation, too tied up with his "report" to Chairman Giles to come…

"Not you too…" he frowned… "Willow's been doing that to me all week…I can make an exception for Buffy but I gotta draw the line with you guys…"

"No 19th century vibes at all?..." Dawn asked…

"Of course not…" he stared at her… "Wait…You're serious, aren't you?..."

"Maybe a little…" she shrugged…Hands in placating gesture at his renewed frown…Dawn… "I mean, Buffy seems so sure…And even the Immortal…"

"I may look like her former self's cousin, Dawn…But I'm not…"

"You might not know…Buffy didn't have a clue about Cicely until now…"

What…? She blinked at his long stare… "You think…?"

"After the fact?…Kinda…Yeah…" sigh… "Dawnie, she was into Spike in some weird way from day one when he came to Sunnydale…And how many times could she have staked him but let him go?...Even when he was 100% Spike and killing her was the sole item on his plate…"

"Could be…I guess…" she nodded slowly… "It would explain a lot of things…"

"But as for me…No, I don't remember ever paling around with her in 1880…"

"But you hooked right up with her in 1997…" Dawn noted… "Maybe somewhere in there, Henry was pushing you…"

"And maybe you were Cleopatra 2000 plus years ago…If 'Henry' shows, I'm sure I, or rather, he will let you guys know…But it's Cicely I'm more concerned with…"

"She's Buffy…Buffy's her…Or whatever…Even Giles was willing to certify that…"

"Yeah…But where's the Buf we knew?…Is she gone for good, washed away by Cicely?..." frown… "I miss my friend, Dawn…However nice Cicely may be…"

"Willow said…"

"I know…Give her time…But we haven't heard a Buffy peep since Cicely showed…If she really is Buffy plus, where is our half?..."

"She's gotta be in there, Xander…"

"And what if…"

"Giles wouldn't lie about that…What'd be the good?..."

He blinked at that one…

"What?...I mean what if she doesn't want to come out…What made you say that?..." he eyed her… "You don't trust Giles now, either?..."

"I didn't say that…" she paused… "But I guess I don't know anymore…"

"If our pal Cicely ain't the First, she's certainly done her job for her…"

"They killed her, Xander…And William…Hell, worse than killed him…And Giles has lied to us…"

"Kept things from us, not lied, Dawn…And I think he honestly thought Buffy would be in danger if she learned about William and Cicely…"

"So kill William…With soul?...And tell us…Buffy and me, especially…Nothing?...Besides, he's the Chairman now, Xander…If he'd try to kill a soul to keep things quiet then, what would he do now?..."

"Dawn…We've put our lives in his hands…And we've known him a heck of a lot longer than Cicely…Not to mention he could've got rid of Cicely this morning…" he glared off a young man staring at them among the crowded Starbucks standing patrons…

Buf's right, Dawn thought…That pirate patch does give him a new air of authority…

"With Willow watching like a hawk?..." she noted…

He shrugged… "Willow doesn't know everything there is to know about magics, Dawn…Let alone other ways to get rid of somebody…He or someone on the Council could've found a way, I'm sure…"

"Maybe…And maybe they haven't decided what to do about her yet…He said they need her…Maybe he's not sure how to get Buffy back yet, so Cicely is the next best alternative…"

He frowned and took a pull on his coffee…

"I don't like this…" he shook his head… "I'm sorry about Cicely and Will and how things ended for Buffy and Will too…It's a damn shame for both of them…But whatever her intentions are, Cicely is driving wedges between us…And not just us and Giles…"

"Maybe we're just getting older and a little wiser…Sandler…" she grinned…

"Where did she get that from anyway…?"

"Some of his friends…Henry's…Used to call him Sandy…She tole me one night…" she noted to his look…Guess she thought it was just familiar enough…Alexander was his middle name, you know…"

And he bucked her on things at times…Including William…She eyed him… "Maybe I ought to read up on Cleo at that…" grin…

"Couldn't hurt…" he grinned back, then… "Dawn…It still comes back to…Now, what?...She's Buffy plus Cicely…Ok, granted…But where's the past twenty-two years?...Where's Buffy Summers?..."

"You said maybe she doesn't want to come out…This is the second time she's left William dead…And you remember what happened when she sent Angel to Hell…"

"She didn't turn into Spike's well-bred Brit fiancée, complete with upper crust prejudices…"

Dawn frowned… "She's not that bad…And she has tried…Anyway, she ran...Only thing Buffy has ever run from…Herself…" she looked at her cup… "Anyway, Cicely thinks that might be it…"

"So now she's an expert on Buffy's motives…"

"She is Buffy, Xander…"

"I need a little more proof than a failed exorcism to believe that completely, Dawn…But…" he put up a hand… "I'm not saying I think she's lying…I only wonder if there's anything of our Buffy left…"

"I think so…" Dawn said, firmly… "And you've seen Buffy in her…"

"We've wanted to…Whether we really do or no…" he shrugged, then sighed… "But the fact is, I won't be able to stick around much longer to find out…"

"What?..."

"Dawn, I can't sit here in England or wherever forever…I've got to get on with my own life…"

"Giles would…"

"I'm not Watcher material, thanks…Dawn, you guys may not have understood, but I liked my old job...And crazy as it sounds, I even miss my family…"

"You're leaving…" she said…Stunned… "Xander, we need you…"

"Buffy and you are ok…I'm willing to believe Cicely will handle things ok regards protecting you…I will keep in touch, maybe even do some work with the Slayers…But it's time I made plans to head out…"

"Back to the US?..."

"For a little while to see my folks…But I've been looking into work abroad…"

"Here?..." she asked, hopefully…

"No…Africa…" he replied… "It's where a guy who can build things and wants to help people with that can do some good…" he noted… "And Giles has told me they've got a critical shortage of personnel to work with the Slayers there…I could go on with my own work and still help out some of the new Slayers…"

It's time I gave some other Slayer the chance to view me as a bumbling, inept, but lovable sidekick…he grinned at her…

"Very lovable…" she grinned back…Then teared up… "Aw, Xander…Do you have to do this?...Can't you build houses here?..."

"With the UK's regulatory structure and work permit restrictions?..." he mock-frowned… "Dawny, it's something I want to do…I can't be a Scooby junior, human member forever…I won't be that far…Just a plane ride…And several horrible bus treks…Away…"

"Buffy will freak when she hears…And Willow…Say…" Dawn brightened… "Maybe this will snap on the Buffy part…Emotional shock…"

"That would be a nice goodbye gift…" he smiled… "But I doubt it'll be that big a shock…As for Wil…I've already told her…"

"Nice of her to tell me…" frown…

"I asked her to let me tell you…"

"Great…" sigh… "So when…?"

"A little bit yet…I wanna see what 19th century Buffy's plans are and know you guys are settled…Speaking of which…You guys made any plans yet?...That she's discussed with you, at least?...You have to start getting on with your lives, too, you know…"

"Still getting her sea legs, Xander…She herself wasn't sure how the exorcism would go…By the way I hope you know this is really gonna screw things up with her Cicely…" Dawn eyed him… "Willow says she was all set to get us hitched…"

"What?..." stare…

"She thinks we may a fine couple…And in her day, parents…Or guardians…Made arrangements…When the kooky kids didn't go running off together…"

"Now I've got to get outta here…"

"Well, that's flattering…" she teased… "What, my dowry ain't big enough?..."

"You and she have been talking a lot about her old days, haven't you?..."

"One more little surprise, ladies…" Knowles smiled to Buffy, Willow, and Olive as the four spread out in the basement room which had once been a servants' dining room…

"That wall's different…" Buffy noted, looking over to a brick wall running across the rear…A small doorway to the left side…

"Yes, it was put in relatively late…The family must have been looking to set up new rooms down here...Though it's not as though Sir Richard or any of the following owners had large families…But the interesting thing's on the other side…" he led them all to the small doorway and waited as they stepped through…

Nice…If we had a little more light…Willow thought…Buffy looking pensive and even a mite troubled…

"Anything wrong?..." Olive asked her…

"No…" Buffy shook her head…Pausing…

"Is there any light, further that way? …" she pointed down the small hallway...Darkening to pitch black, just a little way down…

"I think the workmen have strung some, just a moment…" Knowles stepped back through the doorway…

A few worklamps glowed on…

"Better?..." Knowles called…

"Much, thanks…" Buffy returned…

"It's odd…" she looked at Willow… "This was the old laundry and storage space…Why was it so blocked off?..."

"The later owners probably didn't need so much space for that and wanted extra rooms or something…Buffy?..." she called as Buffy moved down the hall…

"That other wall is new too…" Buffy murmured, staring at a blank wall…Mostly blank…In front of her…

"Did they break the wall there?..." Willow pointed…

"Take care ladies…" Knowles was coming up to them… "The wall blocks off more space and the break was just made the other day…The men don't know yet quite how well supported it is or exactly what's in there…"

"Why would someone wall-off part of his cellar?..." Willow hissed to Olive... "Sounds like a Boris Karloff movie…Body sealed up in…"

Ummn…The two blinked at each other…

"Buffy?..." Willow called to the Slayer now peering through the breech in the wall… "Maybe we'd better take it slow…"

Buffy nodded…Then went through… "Wait here…" a faint call…Knowles calling after her, worried…Sound of dirt or loose brick hitting the ground…

"Mrs. Walthrop, please be careful!..." Knowles started in after her…

A scream shocked them all…Knowles rushing through, Willow and Olive on his heels…

"Buffy!"…Willow cried…To a Buffy kneeling on the floor, hands outstretched on a white slab embedded on the wall…

"Oh, my God…" Olive breathed…Reading…

"Are you all right, Mrs. Walthrop?..." Knowles had reached the kneeling Buffy, Willow likewise beside her now…

"Here…" she said, distinctly… "Willow…" she grabbed at and pulled one of Willow's arms to lay her hand against a second white embedded slab next to the one she'd been touching…Looking up at her with wild eyes…

"Buffy…"

"We're here…" she said quietly, calming now…

"Cicely Addams Walthrop, 1857-1880, Amelia Dawn Walthrop 1880…" Knowles read the lettering on the slabs… "Dear God…"

"All this time…" Buffy whispered, now stroking her child's slab…Holding Willow's hand to it firmly…She looking up again at Willow… "He protected her, loved her…Even with the demon in control…You said so, she told me…He knew, somehow…"

"Yeah…" Willow nodded, tears running… "I guess he did…"

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XX...

Having promised Mr. Knowles and his very perturbed partners that the family would be in touch to consider the matter of the remains in the Addams crypt, Willow, Olive, and Buffy returned to their hotel, Buffy swearing the others to secrecy about their discovery, at least for now… Willow for one, quite eager to agree…Not quite something she'd like to suddenly spring upon Dawny…

Though she and a more troubled Olive did not quite see the need to keep Giles out of the picture…If, as Buffy noted quietly after a moment, he and the Council didn't already know…

"I'm sure Rupert would make no use of this, Cicely…" Olive insisted… "I can't see the harm in telling him…"

"Then it doesn't matter whether he knows or not…And I prefer to keep this a family matter for now…" Buffy frowned at the telephone…How do I ring for tea on this thing?...She turned to Willow…Who had to admit the hotel's system a bit complex…

"Aren't we telling Xander?..." she asked, holding phone… "Yes, some tea and…"

"Scones…With raspberry jam…" Buffy called…

"Scones and jam…And…" Willow told the phone, eyeing Olive who shook head…

"…And any cake they have…" Buffy added…

"…Cake…?...If you've got any…And maybe some carrot sticks?...Fine, thanks…" hanging up…

"Carrot sticks…?" Buffy eyed her…

"Not all of us have Slayer metabolism, Buf…" Willow shook her head…

"Nonsense…You're thin as a rail, Willow…"

"Pretty fat rail since we been on the Cicely diet…Anyway, is Xander in?..."

"I'll tell him…" Buffy nodded… "But perhaps we should leave out Andrew just for now…"

"It's your call…" Willow shrugged… "But I don't like keeping secrets and I gotta side with Olive, Buffy…I don't see how Giles knowing would do any harm…"

"Perhaps if we say nothing he'll let us know what he knows…"

Willow stared at her friend's set face…Clearly even this emotional shock wasn't quite the konk needed…If a konk would even work now…

"Giles is not the enemy here, Buffy…"

"I didn't say that…" Buffy replied, shortly… "I simply want to know if he knows more than he's said…He has in the past, you've seen that…And as you say, it's 'my call'…Meaning, I suppose my decision?..."

"Yeah…" Willow sighed… "What about Dawn?..."

"I'll tell her when the moment's right…I'm sure though…" Buffy paused… "You said she and William were always close…"

"Well, as compared with your other nemeses, I guess so…Though she wasn't too keen on him after he…"

"…Tried to assault me…? Before he went for his soul?...She told me…" Buffy nodded…

"You think Dawn is aware…About William?..." Olive asked…

"My daughter knew her father…If only instinctively, I'm sure…Willow?..." Buffy faced her friend…

"You know this means you'll have her wanting to reach him as well…"

"Yeah…" sigh… "And you know I meant what I said…I can't bring him back…However much I might want to…It's not a game, Buffy…"

"And I am not a child crying for a toy, Willow…I want my husband…I'll settle for just reaching him in spirit if I must but one way or the other, I am going to reach him…"

"What good will it do?..."

"What good?..." Buffy stared… "I don't know where he's gone to…Whether he's safe in Heaven or trapped somewhere by whatever joking fiend rules a universe where an innocent man could be condemned like this?... Knowing what you do about us, whether you believe what I've told you of our connection in the past, do you think I could just walk away from his grave, humming a merry tune, seeking my next Undead lover?...I put him into a century of torment…And I love him…There's no way, as you people say, that I'm abandoning him again…I'll know that he's safe or die trying to find out…"

"Buffy…"

"Weren't you ever in love, Willow?...Didn't you even try to find out if your Tara is safe?..."

I'm sorry…Buffy eyed Wil's stricken face… "I shouldn't have said that…"

"I didn't say I wouldn't try to help you reach him…" Willow finally said after a long moment… "But you and maybe Dawn will have to clearly understand that I can't get him back…I know that hurts, I nearly killed everyone I cared about, it hurt so much to know I couldn't get Tara back…But I can't…So be sure you can deal with it, especially if we do reach him…'Cause that's the best I can do, if I can do that…"

"I understand…" Buffy nodded… "Thank you, Willow…"

"Understand that I mean it, Cicely…And make sure Dawn understands it…When, as you say, the time comes…"

"I do, I will…" another nod…

Olive eyeing Buffy's quiet, composed face with troubled look…

"Caleb did not destroy our entire infrastructure, as you can see, Mr. Wells…" Giles noted to a staring Andrew…At a vast complex of hallways, deep beneath London…Roger Wyndham-Price following them…

"The Archives remain intact…As do our primary research facilities...Here and in several locations around the world…Fortunately, the First was like most Underworld would-be conquerors in her contempt for human science…Metaphysical as well as physical…Had the Slayers failed we still would have been able to counterattack in time…"

"With what…?" Andrew looked round…

"Roger?...Dr. Wyndham-Price is also our director of physical and metaphysical scientific research..." Giles explained…

"Yes…Well…" Roger eyed Andrew…Him?...His look to Giles…

Giles, inscruitable return look…

Well…

"…You know, Wells, I always rather fancied your freeze ray…" Roger smiled at Andrew… "Yes, we have copies of all your devices, plus others developed by enemies of the Slayer she as well as her predeceasors have encountered…"

"How…?"

"We are Watchers, Andrew…As you'll learn if you do stay with us, it's our job to acquire information on every foe of the Slayer, including studying their methods and weapons…" Giles noted…

"Just a moment…" Roger paused at a non-descript door which slid back at the laying of his right hand upon the metal panel of the door…

"Andrew?..." Buffy smiled at him…Stepping out from the doorway…Dressed in her standard blouse and slacks, no hat or long skirt…And no Brit accent…

"Everything ok?..." she eyed him, a concerned look…

"So did you get to the British Museum…?" Buffy asked Dawn as they strolled in leisurely fashion along the street near their hotel…A few passers-by staring a bit at her hat…One or two clearly looking for film cameras, Dawn noted…

"Yeah…What happened at your house?..."

"Mr. Knowles was very kind…The house is in very good shape…"

"Great…What did you find?..." Dawn eyed her… "You didn't bring me out alone to tell me your old house looks good…"

"They found my father's diary…" Buffy said…

Dawn halted… "Sir Richard, right?..."

Hmmn-hmm…Buffy nodded… "I never knew he'd kept one…Never thought Father was the type to keep one…He was very shaken by my death…"

"I'd hope so…You guys didn't get on well…?"

"Well enough…He was very proud of me…For reasons I didn't particularly relish…But I tried to live up to…Until Will came along…"

"Not too happy with your choice, you told me…"

"No…He wasn't…"

"So what else?...You've told me most of this already…You left after Will and he disowned…Disowned, right?..."

"Yes…"

"…Disowned you…What did dear diary say about that?..."

"He wasn't very happy about it…"

"Good…" she shrugged at Buffy's look… "He was a jerk to abandon a daughter who needed him…If he'd looked after you, maybe…"

"Don't be unfair…Your grandfather never blamed you…"

Ummn…

"What?..." Dawn blinked…

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXI...

Fortuna, Imperious Goddess...From Carmina Burana...

"O Fortuna, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing and waning;

Hateful life first oppresses and then soothes as fancy takes it;

Poverty and power- it melts them like ice.

Fate - monstrous and empty, you whirling wheel, you are malevolent, well-being is vain and always fades to nothing, shadowed and veiled you plague me too; now through the game I bring my bare back to your villainy.

Fate is against me in health and virtue, driven on and weighted down, always enslaved.

So at this hour without delay pluck the vibrating strings; since Fate strikes down the

strong man, everyone weep with me!"

"What...?" Xander stared at Willow...

"It's true, Xander..." she sighed... "And not all that surprising...After the fact..."

"Buried in the house...?"

"Well not that part...But Dawn and...Cicely...Yeah...In the house..."

"And Dawn is..."

"Like I said, it's not that surprising...After the fact..."

He rose and began pacing the hotel lobby...Pausing in front of her...

"You saw a tombstone...Not a body...Bodies..."

"That Mr. Knowles will help arrange to have them exhumed and whatever's there reburied...But Xander...I think they're there..."

If even he takes it like this...? she sighed...

"Where's Dawn?..." he suddenly asked... "She hasn't gone and told her this story...?"

"She's telling her right now, I think..."

"Wil, for God's sake..."

"Xander...What do you expect her to do?..."

"And will this do any good?...Saying for the moment it could be true..."

"Dawn deserves to know who her father was..."

"Spike?..."

"William...Xander, an innocent man...Who saved us all..."

"Fine...Great..." he waved a hand... "But aren't you letting Cicely rush this?...Wil, you have Buffy in costume with an accent and a tombstone..."

"Meaning?..."

"There is one other possibility even Giles doesn't seem too willing to consider…" Xander sighed…

"It could be psychological…" he eyed Willow…

"What?...You think she's crazy?..."

"Only if you consider assuming the identity of the century-plus dead Slayer widow of the Undead lover you abandoned to die alone crazy…" he noted quietly…

"Buffy?..." Willow hesitated…No…Nah…I wouldn't even…

"No…Xander, she may be out of herself but not…"

"Willow, think about it…Since she was fourteen Buf's been on a never-ending gotta-save-the-world, fight-to-the-death treadmill involving killing things that seem pretty damn human…And whatever the Council fed her about the people who became these things most were innocent victims, at least to begin with…Then she falls for a souled vamp, Angel, who was a monster but found a soul…Which her Council had never hinted was possible, though Giles sure as hell accepted it at face value without much question when the Brooding One showed…And sought redemption…Not only is she unable to help him, in the end she has to send him to Hell…Then, later finds it was possible to get him out and that he..."

He eyed her...

"...Might have appreciated a little help...He was different with her after that, you know that…I'm not saying he blamed her but..."

"Then she meets Spike, probably…And I admit this only 'cause I have to…The most human unsouled vamp we've ever met…Who later spends years not only telling her he loves her but actually proves it…And ends up winning his soul back…Another little thing the Council failed to ever mention to her, that vamps' souls could be restored without even a curse…All for love of her…"

He put a hand up as she tried to interrupt...

"Wait…Then a twist…Restored soul boy II is quite willing to accept she can't love him, goes to his death for her in fact sure she doesn't, couldn't love him…All the while her dear Council doing its damnedest to get him out of the way, soul or no soul…And why?…Because they've got his blood and Cicely's and their kid's on their hands…And they've been trembling in their shoes that one day it would come back to haunt them…Sure that it would be at the hands of a great Slayer...Maybe to the point they wanted it to happen, get it over with...Purge their souls, maybe..."

"But she knows all these things about Cicely…How could…?"

"The Watchers know…Spike knew some of the story…She could have learned some from either of them and ferreted out more on her own…Just because she didn't tell us doesn't mean she couldn't have…You oughta know by now not to underestimate Buffy's abilities Willow..."

"But the personality, the manner…Heck even the way she walks…Buffy's not that good an actress, Xander…"

"Not normally…But she sure has the motivation..."

"But Henri believes her…He was sure…"

"Maybe…And maybe he wants to believe it too…Her return proves something for him, too, you know..."

"She's not crazy, Xander...A lot more bitter and angrier than that pleasant manner might ever show...But not crazy..."

Underground archives of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists...

Andrew eyed Buffy carefully…

"Nice…" he nodded to Roger… "Either she's the best android I've ever seen…And Warren was the best roboman I knew of, give him that…Or…"

"Andrew?..." Buffy stared… "What are you talking about?..." she looked at Giles, then Roger…

"It's all right, Ms. Summers…" Roger said, soothingly… "Code B-neutral…"

She froze…And her face changed slightly…Morphing into a young woman similar in appearance to Buffy but not quite Buffy…Finally stabilizing into a rather eerie hairless form...Some definite electronic components of some sort attached to her skull and neck...

"Some kind of spell distortion for the appearance?..." Andrew asked…Roger nodding… "And…" he pulled up a sleeve of her blouse on her extended but frozen right arm…The skin stopping just above the wrist to reveal a transparent silicone surface, metal and plastic components, yet underneath… "Robotic components on an organic structure…"

"Cyborg?..." Andrew examined the arm carefully…And a bit eagerly…

Haven't had a good nerdfest in months…

"Yes, but the organics are also unique…" Roger paused… "She was a vampire when the Initiative captured her…And chipped her, like Spike…"

"What?…"

"And like Spike, the result was a partial surfacing of her trapped soul…In her case, she sought us out…Not really sure what she wanted, poor thing…But hoping we could help her…"

"But a vampire cyborg?…With Buffy's appearance…"

"She could be a number of women under this glam…Though she was a good candidate largely because she looked a deal like Buffy…And somewhere in her soul she desperately desired to be a champion of Good…Not the pathetic victim she'd been for fifty years…"

"And this is your counterattacking force?..."

"She's already got demonic strength...The cyborg components not only give her additional strength and ability…They allow us to control her demon, even largely expel it…A mix of the components and spell protection allow her to operate in daylight and conceal her former nature…Even a powerful demon would take her for a Slayer…"

"But she thinks she's Buffy…"

"A good deal of her human memories were gone or damaged when she came to us…She'd been attacked repeatedly by other vampires…Giving her new memories and a new personality grounded her and helped fight back her demon…"

"In effect, Andrew…We've given her a partial cure…" Giles noted…

"Cure?..." Andrew let go the arm…Eyeing the frozen figure before him…

"She hasn't got a free will…She's just a robot…A slave…How could you call this a 'cure'…?"

"Her original personality isn't completely destroyed, Andrew…She's allowed to revert to it…And I assure you, she's quite grateful…" Giles looked at Roger who turned to the cyborg…

"O-active…Hello, Gretchen…" he smiled to the young woman who looked at him… "Doktor Wyndham-Price?...", a slight German accent…Her features a slight bit heavier, older than Buffy…

"You know Chairman Giles…This is Mr. Wells, the companion of your alter ego, Ms. Summers…"

"Herr Wells?..." she offered a hand… "I hope the demonstration was not…" she hesitated… "Disturbing?..."

"Ummn…No…Ummn…"

"Gretchen Moltke…" she smiled… "At least, I am fairly sure that vas my name…"

"Dawn..."

"No..." Dawn waved a hand at Buffy... "No..."

"Dawn, I wouldn't..."

"Just...Leave me alone..." But she hesitated...

"It's nothing to be ashamed of..." Buffy moved to her, arm outreached... "Your..."

"Don't say it!..." Dawn snapped, waving her off... "Just don't!..."

"Do you want to go back?..."

"Just let me be...I'll see you later..." calming tone...

"I don't like to leave you here alone..."

"I'm fine...It's perfectly fine here...I'm just gonna do some shopping and sight seein' on my own...I'll see you later..."

"All right..." Buffy sighed... "Dawn, I would never have told you to hurt you..."

"Fine...I'll deal...I'm fine..." she headed off...Hands clenched...

Oh...Daddy...Daddy...Forgive me...

"I'm sorry Will..." Buffy murmured as she stood watching Dawn hurry off down the street...Her own hands twisting...

"I had to...I had to...

I can't do this alone..."

"And it doesn't bother you to be forced to be someone else...To give up your own soul...After you've won it back?..." Andrew asked...

"I did many terrible things with my demon here...I vant...Want to do some good, Mr. Wells..." Gretchen sighed... "And I can't go back to my old life now...I've been dead fifty years...But as to my soul...The Watchers gife me a choice in the matter...I have chosen to help, you know...If it means I help protect the Slayer who saved so many...I'm grateful for the chance to do so...And I vas un...An actress...Long ago..."

"It's not fair...Not right..."

"Life isn't fair, Wells..." Wyndham-Price said quietly... "But we do plan to try and find ways for our people like Gretchen to have some sort of lives...And those who don't wish to help us...We don't force them..."

"But many do..." Giles noted... "They want to help fight those who took their lives away..."

"Like you took William's and Cicely's...?" Andrew eyed him...

"Yes..." Wyndham-Price nodded calmly...

"Andrew..." Gretchen smiled at him wanly...A bit disconcerting, given the mix of borg components and as he now noted, slightly greenish tinge of skin color... "If you knew what my existence vas before my freedom...The Council has freed us, my comrades und I...All of us who have chosen this path agree..."

"Comrades?...How many?..." he asked...

"Over two thousand now..." Roger...

"And she...Sorry, you..." he addressed Gretchen... "Are playing Buffy...Why?...Does she know?..."

"Especially right now, Ms. Summers needs a stand-in, Wells..." Roger, firmly... "She's provoked a great deal of wrath by defeating the First...Angel may even have joined their ranks...And if those enemies become fully aware of her current vulnerability..."

"You haven't told her, have you?..."

"Gretchen and two others have been in training..." Giles explained... "We'll explain when they're ready..."

"She'll never agree to that...Someone else taking the bullet for her..."

"Buffy, perhaps not...Cicely, however..." Giles noted... "She wants freedom and time to rediscover her past, after all...And there's Dawn to think of...Especially for Cicely..."

"Especially?...Why?..."

"Mrs. Walthrop would be especially anxious to avoid any harm coming to Ms. Summers' sister..." Roger, somewhat hastily...

"Yes..." Giles, imperturbably... "Andrew, it's simply a little extra protection for Buffy when she may be a bit off-stride, to say the least...And perhaps a little relief...Which you of all people must agree she's earned..."

"Not without her agreeing..." Andrew insisted... "It's great of you, Ms. Moltke, but she's gotta say yes..."

"We'd hoped you'd be the one to put it to her..." Roger eyed him...

"As your first assignment as her Watcher..." Giles added...

"Please, Mr. Wells..." Gretchen smiled again... "Let me do what little I can to help her...I assure you I'll be very careful in the role and I can defend myself..."

"Against...Angel?..." Andrew asked...

"If need be..." Roger replied... "But we still don't know exactly what Angel may be up to..."

"He could be leading the Partners on..." Andrew looked at Giles...Who gave a thoughtful look...

"We've considered that...All the more reason then to have someone he trusts implicitly and could contact without danger to the real Buffy...Andrew, if he has turned, soul as well as demon, to Evil, his first target would naturally be Buffy..."

"I'll speak to her...But she meets Gretchen and hears the whole story..."

"We've no intention of keeping anything from her..." Giles said...

"But what about Angel?...And your son?..." Andrew turned to Roger... "We're not just going to sit around and wait to see if he's turned are we?..."

"We've considered a possible plan of action..." Giles noted...

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXII...

"Well?..." Dawn, having entered Xander's hotel room with the briefest of knocks was staring at him…

He eyed her quizzically…

"Did you know?..."

Oh…He sighed…

"Only from Willow just a little while ago…If you mean what I think you mean…"

"I mean that I'm supposed to be the daughter of William the Bloody…" she said, blinking at him…

"I wish Buffy'd waited a bit on telling you that…Dawn, there's…"

She shook her head… "I knew…I knew it was true the moment…"

"A century-plus old tombstone with a name on it doesn't prove a thing…"

"All these years…He was right there…And I felt…"

"Dawnie…This isn't something to rush into…We don't know anything for sure…"

"I know…" she sat down on his sofa, hands clenched… "He was with us…Practically chasing after us…"

"Chasing after you to kill you most of the time…"

"If Giles had told us…" her voice bitter… "We could've cursed him…Found some other way in time like he did himself…"

"Spike would've used it to his advantage…Assuming which I don't, that it is true…"

"I could have saved him…We could all be together now…Instead…Jesus, Xander…My daddy died again, alone…Saving us all and thinking…God…." she sobbed into her hands…

He watched nervously a moment...

"Dawn, he died the way every good person hopes to…A good man, on the right side again at last…"

"At last…?..." she eyed him…Weeping suddenly cut off...

Ooops...Minefield…He sighed again…

"Mo…Cicely never doubted him…She knew he'd fight Spike off…"

"Which he did, yeah…" Xander, soothingly… "But he'd agree you guys were much better off not…"

"You would've been better off not knowing Anya?...She did have a soul even then, when she was killing people, you know…"

Sorry…She caught his wince… "But we weren't better off and you know we weren't…"

"Mother…" she hesitated but got it out… "Mother is right…We should go to LA and force the truth out of Angel…If he gave us that amulet deliberately…"

"That amulet saved us…And made Spike a hero…And…" he smiled wanly…

"Buffy will choke if she hears you calling her Mother now…"

"Not Buffy…" Dawn stared at the wall… "Physically in a way I guess…But Cicely was…Is…My mother…"

He stared hard at her… "Dawn…I'm not prepared to lose Buffy Summers forever…No offense, but I'm not on Team Cicely just yet…"

"I don't mean it that way…I want Buffy back too…" her voice a bit uncertain…

Get sis back and lose Mom?...

"I was telling Willow…" Xander began, hesitant himself…Dawn looking at him…

"I'm not sure we couldn't be dealing with a psychological problem here…"

She shrugged…"I've thought of that…I'm sure Willow and Giles, too...She's not crazy but I'd suggested before, back in the States, she see a good shrink…If we could find one who deals with reincarnations…But I don't believe it now…"

"Anyone could get obsessed with Cicely's story, Dawn…And Buffy's been more than a little conflicted regards William…"

"She wouldn't flip out like that, Xander…Besides, I told you…I know it's true…"

"You know how?...Dawn, you're blaming yourself for what happened to William too…"

"I knew that summer…When he took care of me…I knew he was someone special to me…If I'd just gone with those feelings and tried to find out…I felt my daddy's presence, Xander…I knew he was there…"

"After the fact, after hearing Cicely's tales…Don't prove a thing, Dawn…"

"Then we'll get proof…" she rose suddenly… "Willow can get us proof…"

Here we go…He sighed…

"I didn't do a thing for him when he was right in front of me, Xander…Doin' all he could to show us, make us believe he still loved us…He needed us and we…The least I can do now is to give him back his past…And his family…I owe my father's memory at least that much…"

"And what about Buffy, Dawn?...Are you gonna forget her?..."

"Buffy will come back when she's ready…" she shook her head… "If I can reach her, I will but…" she frowned at him…

"Don't look at me like that…I'm not abandoning her…But she's always been the strong one and if she's letting Cicely or the memories at least run the show there's a reason…"

"I won't sit back and let Buffy become a fading memory, Dawn…"

"Well…" she eyed him… "Fair enough…You were the only one of us who ever saved one…"

Office (temporary facilities) of the Chairman of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists…London…

Giles eyed Willow from his chair as she sat in the opposite chair facing his desk…

"So you've decided to help her with William…" he said matter-of-factly…

"To try and reach him, yeah…But nothing else…"

"I see…"

"We're agreed now she is Buffy…I can't see that it could hurt…It might even help her…To know he's safe in Heaven…It might be the trigger that…"

"It might…" he cut in… "But you know as well as I she'll never be satisfied with that…"

"I couldn't help her…Or him…There, even if I were willing to…"

"And if, knowing his soul is secure, she turns to other means…Other forms of 'help'?..."

"Buffy wouldn't…"

"We are not dealing with Buffy here…Though Lord knows, she would probably do anything it took…"

"Then she'd go ahead without my help…Giles, I think Cicely knows a bit more about magics then Buffy…She was pretty up on things when we visited the Immortal in Rome…"

"Willow…Encouraging her in this will not help her…"

"I didn't come to ask permission, Giles…I came to ask if you knew about the bodies…You still haven't answered me…"

"That Cicely Addams Walthrop and her stillborn daughter were buried in secret in a family crypt by her father…Yes…" he nodded… "I won't lie to you, of course we knew…"

"And you didn't say a word, at least to me?...So I could prepare her?...You knew we were going…And you knew she'd find it…"

Oh…She stared at his impassive face… "You thought the shock might do the trick, didn't you?..."

"There wouldn't have been any way to prepare her for something like this…And there was no way to know for sure she would find a sealed crypt…"

"I think you knew the crypt had been found…" her voice cold… "I think you wanted her to go and see it…"

"How could you do this to her?..."

"How could you abandon your best friend?..." he replied, calmly… "You'd let her remain Cicely, all memory of Buffy Summers gone?...You'd strengthen her obsession with William, pushing her down that road…Which could lead her to all kinds of danger…Willow, what do you think she will do if she finds William is in Hell?...Thank you and quietly mourn his memory?..."

"His soul's not in Hell…" she shook her head… "And you've no right to talk to me like this…You kept everything from us, from her, for years…Do you care about her at all, besides her being your best killing machine?...God, Giles…We trusted you and you betrayed us…Now you're gonna sit there, Mr. Chairman and tell me I'm risking her soul or whatever?...You're lucky she didn't kill you…I know I would have…"

"You've made your decision, Willow…I hope you don't regret it…Again…" he nodded curtly…

"One more thing…" she rose… "She wants access to your archives…Everything…"

"I can't promise she'd find anything useful to her there…But I'll allow it…"

"I mean…Everything…Giles…We know you have some of her things there…If you want her to stay with the team, that's the price…"

He spread his hands… "I've said I'll allow it…When does she wish to visit the facility?..."

"It's intact, below London…" he explained… "But for security purposes I'll need at least a few hours to arrange clearance…"

"Tomorrow…She's out with Dawn…"

"Telling her, you mean?..."

"Yeah…" Hard stare…

"Is that why you were so quick to push for destroying the Key?...You thought you'd get rid of two birds with one killing?...No pesky lil' Dawnie around jogging Cicely memories?..."

"I pushed as you say for what seemed the best chance for Humanity's survival…In the end, Willow, that has to be my primary concern…I only wish it could be yours and hers…" he returned her stare…

She shook her head…

"What good is saving Humanity if people aren't allowed be human, Giles?..."

Door slam…

"Foul-mouthed wretched little…" Buffy growled…Removing her large hat pin, then hat…

"Hey…" Dawn rose from the hotel room sofa… "What's wrong…?" she eyed the grim, set face…

"This miserable world of yours…" Buffy frowned, entering the living room and carefully sitting on the sofa… "People without the slightest bit of consideration or decency…Do you know a man just propositioned me on the street?...And when I told him I'd call a constable, do you know what he said to me?..."

"I can guess…But you heard as bad in the States…"

"One expects boorish behavior in America…" Buffy shrugged… "But in London…Lord, you people consider this advancement?..."

"We don't burn black people for being uppity…We don't keep women in the house and out of the job market…And I don't believe for a sec England was all politeness and 'decency' everywhere, even in your day…"

Buffy frowned…

Still, girl had a point…If one were honest about it…Some of the lower-lifes she'd encountered in the byways and dark streets weren't much better than the fellow…Though in broad daylight, in front of decent people…

"He probably thought you were some kinda actress in your getup…" Dawn noted… "Thought he was being funny…"

"Charming…The lowest music hall ruffian wouldn't have treated me the way that lout did…"

"Uh-huh…Did you belt him?..."

"I would've…People about though…"

"Well, maybe he'll come back…We'll check the street later…"

"I'll live in hope…You seem better…" she eyed Dawn carefully…

"A little, Mom…" Dawn nodded…

"Andy?...Nice to see you again, at last…" Dawn eyed Andrew in suit... "You're looking spiffy today…"

Buffy peered at him closely…Yes… "Thank God Father's tailors were still in business…Not bad at all, Andrew…I take it your interview with Mr. Giles the other day went well?...We've been waiting to hear…"

"They offered me a spot as a candidate…" he nodded…

"No, that won't do…" Buffy frowned… "I want confirmation of you as a full Watcher…I'll settle for nothing less…Surely I deserve a proper Watcher and you've earned it..."

"Thanks..." he blinked a moment... "But there's really a lot for me to learn...I don't even know the full history of our august and ancient organization yet..."

"A bunch of frightened men forced an innocent girl to do their fighting for them...And have never stopped since..." Buffy said dryly... "There, you now know the history of that august body..."

"Yeah...But I'd still like the details..." he eyed her, smiling a little...She wryly smiling back...

"Well, training...Especially if it gets you access...Never hurts...But there's no reason you can't be made a full Watcher now and finish your training as you go...God knows, they've always considered that good enough for Slayers..."

"Mom's right..." Dawn chimed in...

Andrew blinking...

"Anyway, I'll discuss the matter with Mr. G. later...Now, if my new Watcher would care to do the honors..." Buffy extended a gloved hand which Andrew took rather formally...

"Ladies...Welcome to the archival facilities of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists..."

"Can we see my dad's stuff first?..." Dawn cut in...

"Dawn...Patience...Let Andrew handle this as the Council wishes..." Buffy insisted...

"Oh?...Should I look for another air dart?..." Dawn frowned...

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXIII...

"Thank you, Magda…" Giles took the tea tray from the secretary standing in his (temporary facilities) narrow office doorway, Xander watching from where he sat…Setting the tray down on his desk he poured two cups, handing one to Xander…Who accepted the offer of sugar, rejecting lemon and milk…

"I wish…" Giles sighed, sitting down, cup in hand, shaking his head… "I wish I could persuade you to stay, Xander…"

"Gotta get on with my life, Giles…" Xander put down his cup, shifted in his chair, the same Willow had faced the Chairman in the other day…

"Buffy needs you…You know she does…Even for Cicely, you're a vital link…"

"Cousin Henry, right…But that's not necessarily the best thing, you gotta admit…"

"Perhaps not…But it seems to ground her a bit…And she needs that…"

"She's landed on her feet…And Dawn and Andy will be here even when Willow goes home…'Sides I'll only be somewhere near Nairobi, not the moon…Are they in your library?..." he sipped from his cup…

"The archive facility…Yes…It would have been pointless to refuse…Biscuit?..." he offered a plate of shortbread…

"Thanks…Yeah…Don't keep anything more back from her, Giles…I believe you mean well, but it's done her no good to find out this way…"

"I know…Thank you, Xander…I seem to have lost a great deal of credibility with the others these days…"

He nodded… "'Fraid so, Giles…Giles, was it so important that you kept this stuff under wraps?...Like I said, I don't see the good it's done…"

Giles waved a hand…Shrugging…

"The Council has its rules, Xander…As a member…And Field Watcher to the current Slayer, I was bound to follow them…I know Buffy, should she ever return, will be little better pleased with me than Cicely is…But I had my duty…"

"Buffy wouldn't have abandoned Humanity…However pissed she might have been…"

"It wasn't all duty to the Council, Xander…I did genuinely fear for her, if she learned of her true ties to Spike…If I was harsh not to give his freed soul a chance, I would only say I did what I did for her benefit and with her uppermost in mind…"

Xander sighed… "Well, at least Cicely seems willing to cooperate with you guys for now…"

"I hope to regain…Or gain, I suppose is more correct…Her trust at least in part in time…" Giles nodded…

"And Buffy…?" Xander eyed him…

"I don't know…We can hope she'll find her way back…"

"I told Willow…" he paused… "I know she passed a psych evaluation before but I think it might be wise to have a therapist, psychologist…Whatever…"

"I've thought so too…" Giles nodded… "And we have had her case continually monitored…"

"Without telling her…Or us?..."

"Only from a distance…And just an evaluation of the case…I had to be certain it was safe to leave her alone…Surely you didn't think I'd leave that stone unturned…?"

"You told us the psychologist who did her check in the States found her more or less normal…"

"More or less…For a woman who firmly believed she was someone born in the mid nineteenth century, following the gruesome death of her lover…She was deemed not requiring institutionalization nor an immediate threat to herself or others…Though he qualified that after hearing my statement as to her threats to the Council…Still, since she was considered to be operating rationally, I felt it best not to press the idea of therapy on her at that time…"

"And what's your therapist's opinion after 'monitoring her from a distance'?..."

"Her obsession with William has grown, not faded, if anything…Her delusion of being Cicely Walthrop, born 1857, died 1880, remains unchanged…Causes for some concern, even if her previously threatening manner has calmed a bit…He recommends placing her under therapy…By court order if necessary…"

"With all the evidence that she's telling the truth?..."

"Were it not for that evidence I probably would follow his advice…The man is not a member of the Council, Xander…I could hardly tell him that her claims may be supported, given the nature of the evidence…" he leaned back in his chair, regarding Xander… "It appears you're uncertain which explanation to believe…"

"I don't know which one to believe…" he nodded… "Which is why I wanted all options covered…But I see you're a step ahead of me…"

"And you see I've avoided a step I could have taken…"

"Oh?...The Council can still have people put away?..." he eyed Giles…

Cicely told us a story or two about a couple of troublesome Slayers…he noted…

"Hardly the need…I could have persuaded you, even Dawn, at least in the first days, to have her institutionalized…I kept from that option even when members of the Council recommended it…"

"You should let her know that…It might raise your stock a little with her…"

"Perhaps…Xander, I hope we're all still on the same side…Her side…"

"Me too…" Xander nodded… "Well, I am glad someone's keeping an eye out, but she should know, Giles…She's bound to find out and she'll assume you're trying to pile up a case against her…If you tell her, she might even be willing to see someone…If only to prove you…And me…" he grinned wanly… "Wrong…"

"I intend to…"

"'Course then the only problem is…If therapy's no good, we're about out of options, aren't we?..."

"I believe time will turn out to be on our side…Sooner or later Buffy's modern self will re-emerge…"

"Lets hope so…" Xander rose…Pausing, he put out a hand which Giles rose to take… "Giles, I will be in touch…And if you think she needs me, for something specific, I'm always willing to come…"

"I know…Alexander…" he clasped his hand in both of his… "I haven't been very easy on you over the years…But I think you know it was because I knew you were capable of more…You've become a fine man and I'm privileged to know you…"

"Thanks and likewise…Giles, don't let her down…Don't let the Council let her down…" a firm stare…

"She always will be uppermost in my mind…" Giles replied…

Xander nodded…Hesitant… "Giles?...Is there something dangerous, waiting for her there in your files?...Or when she goes looking to find William?..."

"I truly don't know, Xander…But I do fear…" Giles, firm return stare…

"My last letter to Father…" Buffy stared at the paper in her hand, taken from the large wooden box now sitting on the long metal table at which she, Dawn, and Andrew sat…

"Looks like it's a copy…" she noted…Turning it over… "Is there any way to know if…?"

"The letter was sent, Mrs. Walthrop…" a fourth member of the group, standing, addressed her…Hans Axton, former Chairman, director of the archives…

"I appreciate that…"

"That was low, opening and copying your mail…" Dawn frowned…

"Hardly compares with murdering me and my husband…" Buffy noted, a bit wanly… "And the Council always kept close watch on its Slayers…I'd been warned to expect that by Simon when I was called… 'Your life is no longer your own concern', he told me that very first day…"

"Do you like the necklace?..." she suddenly turned to Dawn, indicating the rather antique, large beaded necklace by her plate…

"I do…" Dawn nodded…Fingering it… "Thanks, Mom…"

"It was my mother's…I always hoped to pass it…" Buffy stopped…Tears welling…

"And you did…I'm proud to be your daughter, Mother…" Dawn looked at her, taking her hand… "And I'm proud to be William Walthrop's child…"

"He'd be proud of you…" Buffy smiled faintly now…And returned to the box, mostly her letters, a journal spottily kept over her ten years as a Slayer, and…

"'Dickens'!..." she pulled a worn old stake up from the box… "My favorite stake…" she explained to Dawn… "The best edge I ever honed…"

"Nice…" Dawn eyed the stake with an experienced eye… "Could use a little tuning up but nice solid look to it…"

"Feel the heft…It's teak wood…"

"First class for Cicely, eh?..."

"I used to tell Father it was a sliver from an ancient Chinese temple I bought from Simon…He was always insisting it was a bit too large for the good-luck charm I claimed it was…I…" she stopped suddenly in midst of pulling up more papers…

"Buffy?..." Dawn stared at her stricken face…Tears running…

"Oh…" Buffy reached in, grabbing at something… "Amelia…Here it is…Oh, they kept it…"

"Mom?..."

Buffy lifted the small book up for the others to see…Andrew noting the fine if old style binding and cover…

"'The Complete Works of William Soames Walthrop'…" Dawn read… "Mom?...This is Daddy's?..."

"I had it printed up just after…From the papers your aunt Amelia gave me as well as what I had…"

"Daddy's…?" Dawn touched the cover gently…

"Here…" Buffy handed it to her… "Careful, it's probably the only copy left…Mr. Axton…" she turned to Axton who regarded her impassively…As Dawn very gently set the book down and carefully opened it, waving Andy in to see…

"I'll definitely be taking this…And all the rest…"

"Of course, Mrs. Walthrop…It is your property, after all…"

"Dad…?" Dawn gasped…Looking at the old photo just inside the cover…A somewhat nervous-looking young William in brown suit, hair barely managed, spectacles… "Andrew, there's my daddy…" she pointed…

"He never quite learned how to carry off a suit…" Buffy smiled, gently touching the image… "You say he went blonde as Spike?..."

"Blonde, black, and red…Those were his colors…" Dawn noted… "Andy?..." she looked over…

"Right here…" he pulled a photo out… "I managed to get it off my videos of him the other day…I'm sorry I couldn't save any of the footage or sound…But Dawn thought you'd like to have this at least…"

"I know you weren't too anxious to see him as Spike, Mom…" Dawn began… "But when Andy thought he could get this for us…"

"Yes…" Buffy nodded… "I think I would now…" she took the photo… "My…He looks…Exhausted…"

"It was a rough time, those days…" Dawn nodded…

"And very handsome, as always…This is after he got the soul, correct?..."

"After he won it back for you…" Dawn smiled…

"And for you, I'm sure…" Buffy held the photo up…

"You don't suppose he was making fun of Buffy with the hair?..." she asked…

"He'd had it that way a while…" Andrew noted…

She turned over a few pages…Her face suddenly reddened, she turned to Axton, eyes burning and locked on him…

"Who did this?..." she asked, grimly…

"Mom?..." Dawn stared…

"The book is very old, Mrs. Walthrop…" Axton began… "We have tried to…"

She grabbed him by the throat, hoisting him…Andrew looking at Dawn…

"Buffy?..." Dawn tried…Axton choking in her grip…

"Who desecrated my husband's work?..." Buffy continued… "Who tore these pages out?..."

"I…Don't…" Axton gasped…

"Buffy, I will call security…" Andrew tried… "Stop it, Mom!..." Dawn grabbed at her outstretched arm, holding the old man in a vise grip…

As suddenly she lowered Axton and released him, he falling to the floor, Dawn hurrying to him…

"You wretched people…" Buffy whispered…Rubbing tears back… "You couldn't leave me with anything…"

She closed the book and put it on the table…

"Should I call a doctor?..." Andrew asked…Eyeing Buffy who was now returned to thumbing through some papers…

"No…" Axton shook his head… "I'm quite all right…"

"Dawn, help me with this…" Buffy looked over to her… "I'm sure Mr. Axton is fine…"

"Mom?..." Dawn looked at Andrew…

"I'm sorry I lost my temper…It's fine now…" Buffy continued pulling out papers… "Well, here they are…" she lifted several torn pages out of the box… "I was just afraid this might have been lost…It was a poem dedicated to me…Torn out, it seems…" she eyed the papers… "Yes…I'd imagine that was Simon…" she frowned…

"Mom…You could have killed Mr. Axton…"

"If I set out to kill someone, Amelia…" Buffy eyed her… "I don't stop till they are dead…"

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXIV...

"From the beginning

I knew meeting could only end in parting, yet

I ignored the coming dawn

And I gave myself to you."

William Soames Walthrop to Cicely Anne Addams, March 2nd, 1880.

"Well?..." Buffy, on hotel room sofa, box and papers from the archives scattered about her, eyed a quiet Dawn sitting in a large chair across the living room's coffee table, likewise engaged in reviewing papers from the box...Andrew seated in another chair, a somewhat reluctant witness...

"You might've killed that old man..." Dawn looked up briefly...

"He's breathing still...Your father is not..." Buffy, dismissively... "I'm sorry to have lost my temper...I think I'm right to point out I have been under a strain..."

"Is that the way Cicely handles things?..." Dawn replied...

"Your sister...I...Locked my husband…Her lover…Away in a cellar when he'd won his soul back for love of her and needed care...Is that the Buffy way, with which you apparently had no problem?..." hard-eyed reply...

Dawn stared a moment... "You're jealous..." she stated, simply... "I didn't realize…You're jealous of Buffy..."

"I am Buffy...So the Council of Watchers has certified, eh, Mr. Wells?..." she gave Andrew a quick smile...He trying to look anywhere else...

"It doesn't matter...You're jealous..." Dawn shook her head...

"I love my husband...He was ripped from me by an unfeeling God, the monsters He allowed to walk this Earth, and a group of unscrupulous, ruthless, terrified men..." Buffy said, bitterly... "You think I like the idea another won his heart and led him out of torment...?"

"You...It was you..."

"As you and your friends keep pointing out, Amelia, your sister was quite different from me in personality as well as form...I don't blame your father, God knows, I'm glad he found something to lead him back...But..." she eyed Dawn coolly...

"Don't expect me to thank the Council for it..."

"Buffy's more like you than you know...I see it more every day..." Dawn noted... "And she could be pretty hard on people too...At times..."

"Really?...And here I was thinking she was a gentle angel...Except of course where a condemned soul needed her..." Buffy paused, looking at her hands a while...Slight tremble...

Dawn came over to her...Hand on shoulder...

"Sorry..." Buffy looked up at her...

"You're not to blame for not rescuing him, Mama...Hell, you came back from the dead to do it...Three times if we count Xander's CPR..."

"C what?..."

"Never mind...Mama, you didn't let him down..."

Buffy staring up a long moment at her face...

"Then why isn't he here?..."

Evening, two days later...

Despite Xander's attempts to minimize the impact of his imminent departure an overwhelming force of sorrowful friends backed by several dozen rather broken-hearted Slayers had required him to cave and accept a farewell dinner...Though thanks to Willow's and Dawn's efforts a reasonably casual place...

"Olive..." Willow, standing in the foyer of the restaurant, greeted Ms. Knowles and her brother Edward, she in dress, he in suit jacket, with heightened warmth...Catching as she did Giles' sudden move to speak with a Slayer on the opposite side of the room... "Glad you guys could make it..."

"Ms. Rosenberg..." Edward shook hands... "Are Buffy and Dawn here yet?...And our guest of honor...?" Olive asked...Glancing for the briefest of moments to where Giles was engaged in conversation with a Slayer rather pleased to find her training schedule of such sudden interest to the Chairman...

"They're holding him at the table so he can't run and hide in the mens' room..." Willow grinned... "But once they get a few beers in him, he'll relax a little..."

"I know this will be very hard for all of you, losing Xander..." Olive nodded... "Speaking of beers, Eddie?..."

"Ms. Rosenberg?..." he smiled to Willow...

"Whatever you guys are having..." she replied... "I'll trust your expertise..."

"Too bad..." Olive grinned as Edward moved off... "I was hoping we might get to try something new...But next round..."

"There'll be plenty of those tonight..." Willow smiled back... "Just lets keep Buffy off the tables when she starts singing..." They moved to a somewhat less traveled spot of the room...

"I thought her singing grand the other night..." Olive smiled... "But I've no doubt she'll be on her best with Dawn about..."

"I have noticed 'Mom' laying off the booze a bit the last few...But thanks for coming, she'll appreciate the support from the distaff side of the family...I think it's just hitting her that 'Cousin Henry' is really going...The one familiar face, even if he isn't the real thing..."

"I suppose it must be a little terrifying for her...How is Dawn taking...All of it?..."

"After the first shock, pretty damned well..." Willow shrugged... "Me, I'm still twitchin' when I hear her call Buffy 'Mother' but she really seems to be dealing...I even think she likes the new first name..."

"Can't be bad for her to have found another mother...Especially what with knowing her physical origin as the Glorificus Key..."

"Yeah...Guess we can add poor Joyce to the list of those we prefer to forget..." Willow sighed...

"I'm sure that's not so..." Olive replied... "But if what we found is true and real, one can't blame Amelia Dawn for being happy to have her true mother back..."

God knows the chances of being loved in our lives aren't so overwhelming we should pass on any such Fate offers us...she noted, wistfully...

"You should talk to Rupert..." Willow smiled at her... "He's hurt but..."

"I don't think Rupert Giles is one to forgive a betrayal..." Olive sighed... "I should never have gotten so close when I was monitoring Buffy...It was an insult...To all of you..." she said ruefully..."Though I sincerely did want to know you all better..."

"Giles kept a few things from us for the sake of Duty...I think he ought to cut you a little slack..."

"Best to let it be for the moment..." Olive looked over into the restaurant... "Well, shall we let Eddie catch up with us?..."

"Sounds good..." they headed into the main dining area, Willow leading...

"My..." Olive stared over to where Buffy sat with Dawn and Xander...Buffy in low cut, long gown...Reasonably modern style formalwear, if a bit conservative...Flowers in her loose hair...

"It's all for Xander..." Willow hissed... "She wanted to be a little more Buffy for him before he left so she let Dawn fix her up for tonight...She's even tried to tone down the accent..."

"Olive, Willow!..." Buffy waved them over, rising from her seat... "Well, what do you think?...A little more toward the twentieth-first century?..." she smiled at Olive, then hugged her...

Obviously the attempt at accent reduction not quite succeeding, Olive noted...

"I'll have to be a bit more Buffy Summers I know in future..." Buffy explained a bit hastily... "May as well start now, eh?..."

"Just as long as you're comfortable with who you are, Buf..." Xander, a bit sternly, likewise rising to greet Olive...

"You look wonderful, in any case..." Olive smiled...

"Thank you...Thanks..." Buffy nodded... "And here's Edward..." she greeted Edward as he approached, bearing a couple of beers in glasses on tray...

"Cicely..." Edward beamed, setting down the tray and offering Willow her glass...

"Hey..." Buffy hugged him... "But tonight, it's all Buffy..."

"Of course...Sorry..." he was apologetic...

"Not at all..." Buffy waved a hand... "I need to find the proper balance..." she eyed the watching Xander... "Xander..." a hair proudly at getting the name on first mention... "...Told me that right from the first night..."

"Not exactly...I'm not that gifted..." Xander shook his head... "But it's a good idea and the bottom line is, I want you happy, Buffy...Wherever and whoever you settle..."

"Then don't go..." Buffy, suddenly...All conversations near the two ceasing...

He sighed and took her hand...

"Buffy...You know I'll always be just a phone call away..."

"I know...Yes...Yeah..." she laid on the twang... "Can't blame me for asking..."

"No, but I can blame you for that lousy American accent..." he grinned, nudging her...The others taking their seats…Giles and several Slayers entering from the foyer…

"Hey dude..." she mock-frowned as she and Xander now sat... "Dawn can vouchsafe that I practiced all day yesterday..."

"Vouch, I mean..." she corrected at Dawn's helpful eyeing...

"Just be yourself, Buffy..." he said, seriously... "I know I've been pressing a little too much for your old...Or new, depending on your point of view...Self to come back, but in the end that's really all I want...There's been enough trying to be it all for us..." he grinned…

"And for once I actually intend to follow my own advice and live my life...So long as I know you're ok..."

"Of course..." Buffy smiled wanly... "I'm a Vampire Slayer twice over...I'll be fine...It's just...You're the one who bridges both our worlds, Xander..."

"Ah..." he sighed...Grinning... "Just when I was getting used to the new name..."

"I wish you'd known William as Henry did..." she said suddenly... "I'm sure you would have been friends...As they were..."

"Some day, maybe...I did respect what he did in the end, Buffy...Judging by that, I'm sure he was a fine man..."

"...Who'd want you to live..." he ended, whispering to her...

She nodded...Bending her head slightly, leaning to him...He kissed her forehead...

"And she, you..." she noted...

"I think so..." he agreed...

Willow pulled up a chair next to them... "One of the nice perks of having been Evil for a bit is you don't feel quite so selfish when you horne in on your best friends' conversation..." she grinned... "Kinda gives you perspective..."

"Not a problem...I was just trying to see if turning back into Buffy would make him stay..." Buffy grinned back...

"I knew it..." Xander nodded... "You keep looking to put up your hair..." he teased... "Shall I fetch a wrap against the night air?..."

"Eh..." Buffy waved a hand..."You people...I used to wear gowns much more risque...But you could fetch me a pint..."

"Dude..." grin...

"As American as Governor Schicklegruber himself..." Xander nodded, rising... "Wil, Ms. Knowles...?"

"Keep it comin'..." Willow nodded...

Several Slayers eyeing Xander as he passed them…Willow nudged Buffy to see…

"This alone must be the best gift he's ever had…Lets make sure he gets some numbers before he goes…"

"Hey…Mom's saving him for me…" Dawn, arch look over…

"Keep him in the family, right idea…" Willow nodded with grin…

Buffy smiling…A bit troubled in look…

"Have you made any plans, Buffy?..." Olive, seeing her face, asked gently from her opposing seat…

"Nothing definite…Mr. Giles has offered me some training work with the Council…" Buffy noted quietly… "Dawn of course needs to do some preparatory work for college and…"

"'Of course…'?" Dawn frowned…

"I only mean you want to go to college…" Buffy, returning frown… "About which I am very proud…"

"Naturally…" Olive nodded… "But are you thinking of returning to college as well?..."

"I don't know…Perhaps later…I'd need so much work to learn even the basics…"

"They haven't changed all that much, Buf…" Willow noted… "A little tutoring and you could be up to speed in a few months…"

"Mom and me in college together…Sounds like a bad TV movie…" Dawn mock-frowned…

"Well…We'll see…" Buffy shrugged… "I have more to do here first…How about you, Olive?...Will you continue with your current work?..."

"I think so…" she nodded… "Of course freelance journalism was a good excuse to travel about when I monitored you and William... But I actually do enjoy it…"

"What about Rome?..." Edward asked… "Did you or the Immortal ever learn anything about who fired at you then?..."

"Not a thing…" Buffy shook her head… "I'm sure both Buffy Summers and the Immortal have their share of enemies…Though whoever it was, they haven't been very persistent…It may be it wasn't actually meant for us…Henri's people are still looking into it…As is Mr. Giles…"

Xander returned…Got a waitress coming with the drinks, he noted… Yeah, Stacy and Irene, two lovely Slayers in his wake noted as well…

Willow eyeing Buffy who smiled back…

"You know Stacy and Irene…" Xander introduced the pair who beamed at his intro…

"Sure…Hey…" Willow waved… "Grab a chair, guys…" The two girls hastily sitting by Xander…Who now sat down to Willow's left…She giving him a puckish smile…

So, where you're going is now an independent country, correct?..." Buffy turned to Xander…

"When it's not invaded or cut up by warlords, yeah…" he nodded…

"Sounds dangerous…You should have some trained Slayers with you…" Buffy shook her head…

"Yeah…" Stacy, eagerly…Irene in total agreement…

"I'll be in touch with the local Council guys…" he noted…

Buffy frowned… "Surely Mr. Giles can do better than that…Why I expect we could recruit a half dozen volunteers this very evening…Eh, Willow?..."

Stacy and Irene eyeing each other…

"I don't think I need a bodyguard…"

"Nonsense…What vigorous young man doesn't want a few superstrong young ladies watching over him?..." Buffy grinned now…

"Think harem, Xander…" Willow joined in…

"Will you two stop…?"

"He's a saint…" Willow noted…

Indeed…Buffy agreed…

Yeah…Stacy, Irene, and several other seated Slayers nodded…

"Seriously…I want you to have some protection at least till you get settled…" Buffy eyed him… "It's little enough for the Council to do for you or me for all your service…"

He sighed…

"For Anya's and my sake, Xander…Please…You're going to be training Slayers anyway…Just two or three experienced ones staying with you…"

Hmmn…Several Slayers looked over…

"Dream come true, Xander…" Willow grinned…He mock-frowned at her…Stop…

"It could like that awful television program Dawn always watches… Fellow with female roommates in a platonic relationship…He giving wise counsel…Well, idiotic counsel on that program…But I'm sure you…" Buffy frowned at his look…

"Willow put you up to this…" he shook his head…

"Well…Yes…Yeah…" she grinned… "But I do want you to have some help… Xander, Anya would want it…"

"I'll keep near the Council's center…I'll be careful…Don't worry…"

"Buffy and Cicely have many who'd love to hurt someone she…We…Love… I've lost too much already, Xander…Please…I'm sorry if we were teasing…" her tone a bit urgent… "Please…"

Willow, guarded look to Xander…

"I'll think about it…" he said...

"'Cuse me…" Stacy rose…Irene eyeing her narrowly as she headed for Giles' seat…

"Right back…" Irene rose…

Well, there's two…Willow hissed to Olive…

"I've let you people keep a guard on me…" Buffy noted…He…And Willow… Eyeing her…

"What?...I'm not a fool, nor have my senses deserted me…" she smiled… "You've had no less than four Slayers constantly dogging my footsteps… And I know you all agreed to it…Since I left the hospital in California…"

And I appreciate it…Particularly for Amelia Dawn's sake, she nodded…

"It was a demonstration of concern…And all I ask is you let me do the same for you…"

"Fine…" he sighed…

Yes…!...Several more Slayers hurried over to where a puzzled Giles in his seat was now surrounded by a growing crowd…

"Just not in the same apartment, please…"

"I can't believe you wouldn't tell me first…" Willow sighed, shaking head…

"Oh, now knock it off…" he grinned…

"Say…Mom…" Dawn turned to Buffy… "That reminds me…"

Hmmn?...

Yes, the 'Mom' still does freak me, too…Xander nodded to Willow…

"How did you and Daddy manage it?...Me, I mean?..."

"Amelia…" Buffy stared…

"So…" Roger stared at the attentive group before him in the Council's underground facility's training room B…Authorized personnel only…

"…That is the plan…Ummn…Ladies and gentlemen…" he eyed the hairless, rather frozen-faced audience…

"Do you really believe Angel has reverted to Evil?…" one in the first row asked…His concerned voice belying his blank features… "I…My old self…Fought him two years ago…He seemed so committed to the right side…"

"We can't know for sure…" Wyndham-Price shook his head… "But the indications are that he is acting in what he feels is his son's best interests…And Connor has always been the most important thing to him in his existence since retrieving the soul…However, we hope to capture him intact and either clear his name or win him back to our side…"

"Difficult job with Angel or Angelus…" another, female, noted… "But we'll do our best, sir…"

"Mr. Giles, I, and the full Council and Slayers appreciate that…" he nodded… "Remember that my duplicate will be acting independently of you and until your support is needed he'll have no contact with you…It will be up to you, Timothy…" he addressed the first speaker… "To lead our team in the attack and to obtain everything you can in the Wolfram-Hart files, particularly regarding Angel and Ms. Summers, but everything available in general…"

"Yes, sir…" Timothy nodded… "And may I say for us all…We are truly grateful for the chance to do what we can…"

"I…And the Council and Chairman are the grateful ones…Thank you all…" he looked over the group…All so eager to atone for the sins their souls never committed…

Grimly conscious of his success in suppressing the sense of shame that briefly overwhelmed him…

Heathrow Airport...The following afternoon...

Willow regarding Xander who gave her a wry smile...She shook her head...

"No way am I saying goodbye, Xander..."

"That's good... 'Cause it's not..."

Sigh... "What the hell am I gonna do without you?..." Willow bowed her head slightly...Xander putting hand to her cheek...

"Nairobi...Not the moon...Just call me..."

"Yeah, right...On the salary I'll be likely to make for the next ten years..."

"Charge it to the Council..." he shrugged... "They oughta have you and Buffy on their payroll..."

"Giles hinted he'd see what he could do...But frankly..." she eyed him...

"Lets not let things go that way, Wil...Buffy...And you...Need Giles' help and you both need Giles..."

"Ma and I are waiting you know!..." call from Dawn where she and Buffy sat with Andrew and Giles near the departure gate for Xander's flight...

"Just a minute!..." Willow called back...

"God...I'll never get used to Dawn doing that..." Xander, rolling eyes...

"She's been waiting a long time to have parents, Xander...I never really got how hard it was for her to lose Joyce...And not just her dying..."

"I know...And I'm glad but..."

"I won't give up on Buffy...You know that..." Willow noted firmly...

"I wouldn't go if I thought you ever would...But don't forget Willow Rosenberg needs a life too, you know...And Wil..."

"... 'Be good or at least be careful'...I know..."

"I don't like saying this..." he paused...She staring at his clouded face... "But don't forget you dealin' with Cicely Walthrop, not Buffy Summers..."

She nodded... But gave him a rueful look... "But don't you forget...She is Buffy...And Buffy can be pretty determined to have who or what she wants...I'll be careful with both of them..."

"Hey!..." Dawn called...Buffy shushing her...

"Come on over..." Willow waved to them...

"I'm sorry...I know I haven't given you what you needed these last few...Mourn as much as you need to...But don't blame yourself, Alexander..." she turned back to Xander, hastily, intense whisper... "She knows you loved her..."

He fixed his good eye on her...The glass one staring straight ahead...

"If you do reach him...?"

"No, I'll put the call through direct...I always intended to when you were ready..." she noted...

"Thanks...Tell her, I wish I'd been there..."

"And the answer will be... 'Yeah, me, too'...If I know Anya..." she grinned as Dawn and Buffy reached them...

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXV...

A somewhat nervous Dawn glanced at Buffy's set face…Then over to where Andrew sat in the front row of assorted Watchers and Observers…Most, excepting the very few new members, looking rather nervous themselves as they stared at the group on the platform before them…Giles seated next to Dawn and Buffy…Vice Chairman Wyndham-Price next to him on his right…Willow next to him…

New Slayers watched as well from their seats behind the Councilors, filling the auditorium of the temporary facility of the Council to capacity…

A Watcher, female, completing a brief report on the status of the Council globally, at the lecturn front and center of the platform…

Giles rising as she concluded and moving to the lecturn…

"Thank you, Ms. Sinclair…Ladies and gentlemen…Before we discuss the urgent situation in Los Angeles, I wish to introduce to you our new Slayer Councilor General, Mrs. Cicely Anne Walthrop…" he turned to Buffy who rose to applause…And eyeing the audience coolly, moved to the lectern…He stepping away, but remaining standing near…

"Mr. Chairman…" she nodded to him… "I hope that the Council understands I use my former name in this address in tribute to my husband William…I am of course also Buffy Anne Summers and while I am not currently in possession of those memories, I am quite proud to be that as well…"

She paused, eyeing the group…

"I'm glad to see so many Slayers among you…I think it's important that we who do the fighting are properly represented here especially now that we are legion…Each of us individuals, with our own needs and lives…I say lives, ladies and gentlemen…" Stern glance… "Because, contrary to the Council's past views, Slayers are not merely demonically powered warriors serving at the beck of the Council but human beings…Women…Who deserve the right to decide their own fates…In the past, when one Slayer protected all Humanity, the case could be made by some…And was, as I know all too well…That her single, little life weighed against the fate of humankind, counted for nothing…"

Cold stare sweeping across the audience…

"That is no longer true…If it ever was…And I am here today to, among other things, ensure that that particular point of view is forever abandoned…Ladies and gentlemen of the Council, I say to you that while I respect your commitment to your work and your various individual skills and abilities, it is we…The Slayers…Who have been entrusted with the power to defend Humanity…And who therefore, must have an equal voice in decisions as to how that power should be used…"

Here, here?...Dawn thought, glancing round at the still faces of the Council members…

Though at least the Slayers seemed pleased with the notion of controlling their own destiny…Several banging on the floor, to the clear annoyance of the more sedate Watchers…

"…So, without further ado, I accept the appointment as Slayer Counselor General and I move that those Slayers able and wishing to join the Council here or in their respective locales, shall be immediately entered as candidate members…"

Definitely not hear, hear…Dawn, looking at the hardening faces…

Was that a hiss?...

"…To achieve full membership after the completion of training with all the privileges of Watcher status…And I further move…" harder tone…

"That as of this moment, my colleagues, Willow Rosenberg, Alexander Harris, and Andrew Wells, by virtue of their experience and achievements be admitted with full Watcher rank…"

"If I may have the floor…" a tall man, blond and of Scandinavian aspect, rose…

Giles frowned and moved to rise…Buffy eyed the man…

"I have not opened the floor to discussion just yet…Pray let me continue, sir…" brittle tone…

"…Destroying this organization, you mean…" the man returned, sneering tone now…Other Watchers rising…

"Enough…Mrs. Walthrop has not finished…Ladies and gentlemen, take your seats…" Giles insisted, now standing at Buffy's side…

"Hey!...Quiet!...Let her finish!..." several Slayers called from various points…

"This is not the time for radicalism…" a middle-aged woman stood… "We have guided Slayers and other fighters for thousands of years and…"

Slayers banging feet and stakes on the floor…Comments ranging from "Oh, please!..." to loudly put swear oaths in various languages…

"You aren't our only weapon!..." a Counselor's cry…

"Silence!..." Giles called… "We will have order here or I will end this meeting now!..."

Gradual calming…Watchers and Slayers taking their seats…

Buffy eyeing the Counselor rows…Waiting till all was again quiet… Despite the hostile looks…

"You people…Have no organization without us…" she said coldly… "I accept that many of you have made sacrifices in the cause of Humanity… But we are the source of the Council's power and we will not be second- class mercenaries at your beck and call…"

"Yeah!..." harsh cry…

"Quiet, please ladies…I appreciate your support…" she called…

"We're not slaves!..." more oaths in various languages…

Violent slam of fist on lectern before Giles could intervene…All looking at Buffy's angry face…And the pieces of shattered lectern…

"I asked for quiet…" she said calmly…Waiting…

"Thank you…I have one further motion…Please, Andrew…" she signaled to Wells who rose from his seat, ignoring several hard stares, and reaching the side door of the hall, opened it…

Slowly, rather timidly, a group of hairless, rather blank-faced humanoids entered…Slayers and Counselors staring…Andrew encouraging them to come in and guiding them to the platform where he led them to seats…

"Please come in…" Buffy kindly waving them to their seats…

"Yes…The Counselor who said we were not the only weapon of the Council was quite right…You have also enlisted these poor souls in your ranks…" her voice grim…

"And so I also insist that they be granted representation on the Council…They are, after all, human souls…"

Disgusted looks from several Counselors…Others clearly uninformed about the cyborgs, staring…Some at least seeming willing to hear her out, Dawn noted…

"Counselors, I think my motions are quite reasonable and long overdue… Now I will have them accepted or I will leave the Council to its own devices…" she stepped away as a Counselor and Slayer together brought over a new lectern…Giles moving in quickly before any could rise…

"I second Mrs. Walthrop's motions…And by my authority, pass the motion…" he said, quietly…Though hastily…

"Outrageous!..." a woman rising, cried…

"I call for debate…" a male Counselor rose…

"Debate!...Debate!..." several rose…

"The motions are carried…" Giles shook his head... "There will be no debate…"

"I call for the removal of the Chairman…No confidence!..." the Scandinavian rose…

Nice to see how the Council appreciates us after all our world-saving… Willow thought…

"Seconded!…Resign!..." several rose…

"No!..." various Slayers rose…

"You're putting Humanity in the hands of half-human monsters!..." a Counselor cried…

"Hey!..." Dawn rose… "Who do you people think you are?...You never lifted a finger when Buffy was all alone!…You killed my father, her, and me!..."

Buffy standing by Giles who looked at her…

"This what you wanted, Cicely?..." he whispered…

"If they're cutting their own throats, it'll do…" she whispered back… Steady gaze to his…

"Enough!..." he turned to face the crowd…

"You may replace me if you wish…But you cannot replace the Slayers and all of you know that…And rest assured they will follow Mrs. Walthrop, not you…"

"Damned straight!..." a Slayer cried…

"What Mrs. Walthrop asks is simple fairness…The Slayers and our cyborgs are risking their lives to fight our battles and they deserve representation on the Council…"

"Dominate the Council, you mean…" a voice cried…

"Without them we are a collection of arm-chair experts on the occult with some abilities in magics!…Don't be foolish!…" Giles shouted, shaking his head… "If you want Humanity to have protectors, you must accept them as fellow humans, entitled to a role in their own destinies…Will you push them to fight alone without benefit of our knowledge or even drive them into the arms of Humanity's enemies?...Who I promise you will not be such fools as to reject them…"

Some degree of calming…

"If I may…" Buffy spoke up… "Perhaps the Counselors who oppose my measures should rise…So we can see if the Council truly prefers to go it without help…"

Furtive glances across the room…

"Please, Mr. Giles…" she turned to Giles who nodded…

Ten Counselors stood up…The first five, close by each other, vigorously, the next three, scattered round, a bit less so…The last two rather forlornly in isolation…

"I see…" Buffy smiled pleasantly… "You may go…"

The standing looked at her, then Giles…

"Unless you wish to remain and accept the motions…" she continued to smile pleasantly…

Silence…The ten resume their seats…

"As to the matter of a vote of no confidence in Chairman Giles…" Buffy eyed the now quiet rows… "I move we proceed to a vote of the new full Council…"

"I guess we have Sir Richard to thank for that performance…" Willow grinned at Buffy now seated by her as Giles, newly confirmed in office, began a briefing on the situation in LA…

"Father always knew how to handle an unruly House…" Buffy smiled back…

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXVI...

"Well, she is confirmed and clearly with the Slayers to back her…" Wyndham-Price quietly noted to Giles as they sat in his office…Open bottle of scotch whiskey on table…

"She now is the real power of the Council…Yes…Though I can deal with that…" Giles frowned…

"I was a bit disappointed that she learned of the cyborgs so quickly… I'd hoped I'd made more of an impression on young Wells…"

"She backed the plan for a probing mission to LA…"

"If anything she was too enthusiastic…She may still try to go herself… At least in borg virtual form…She wants Angelus dead, of course, though…Not retrieved…You saw she was anything but disturbed by the reports…A good excuse to the others for eliminating him…"

"We can't permit that to happen…" Roger shook his head… "Will you tell her what's at stake?..."

"No…" Giles shook head… "She wants revenge and since we're currently too useful to her, the focus of that revenge will be Angel…As we hoped… Even if we dared bring her into our plans, if I felt I could trust her, we couldn't risk that she might let her anger get the better of her…Besides her sincere desire to believe in his acceptance of a position with Wolfram-Hart and his corruption by them is the best insurance for the plan's success…She'll do our work in convincing the Partners…"

"But if she insists on joining the strike team…Even if only in a borg copy?..."

"I don't think she'll do it…" he eyed Roger, leaning back… "Somewhere there are memories of Angel and the rest of us, from Buffy's time, buried still in her…"

"She won't want to confront him?..."

Giles sighed…No… "But it's not that…She'll know his best chance of being retrieved for us lies with her…That if he truly is on the edge, only Buffy Summers could drag him from the abyss…And she'll refuse to do it…At least under the conditions of our operation…Willow has already made it clear she would insist on going as well…And she wouldn't wish to act with Willow present…"

"Cicely hates him that much?..."

"Oh, yes…" Giles nodded… "Just before she left for Europe she contacted me in secret and offered a promise of peace between us if I'd let her deal with Angel herself…In her own way, without questions…"

"I see…And?..."

"I told her I would welcome it, if proof were obtained of his turning… But without it, much as I might want him destroyed for my own reasons, her friends would turn against us both…And should he not have turned, we would lose too valuable an ally in the fight…At which point…She very nearly threatened to kill me…" he smiled… "Though I must say she maintained an admirable calm, it was very clear to me…But she agreed proof was desirable and I promised to present it after she returned from Rome…It was interesting…" he paused…

"She never asked if I thought Angel might be playing along…Or if we could bring him back to our side…Cicely at least has no interest in saving him, Roger…And going to LA herself, as Buffy, with Willow and your people present, restraining her, there's always the chance that might be enough…" thoughtful look… "She's afraid of Buffy…Buffy returning to interfere…"

"If the mission did succeed as planned, we'd be bringing him back…" Roger, hesitant… "She must know her friends at least would try to reach him…Win him back…"

"I've promised…She'll be the first to meet with him here if we retrieve him…" Giles, coolly…

Roger was silent…

"So of course…She must not go with you…And we must fail…As planned…" Giles nodded…

"Besides she has other matters to concern her right now…"

"Dawn…!"

"Amelia Dawn!..." raised voice…No reply…

"Really…" Buffy sighed to Willow… "I do not believe that child sometimes…Excuse me…" she rose from the dining room table at which they sat and made for Dawn's bedroom…Opening the door without knocking…

"Mom!..." Dawn's voice…The door closing behind Buffy…

Hmmn…Willow sat, a bit uncertain…Listening to the flow of voices… Dawn's rising, then Buffy's…

The door opened…Buffy emerged…Face set…Closing door behind her…

"I blame myself…The girl's had no discipline at all…" she frowned, taking seat… "What was I thinking?..."

"She was your sis, Buffy…Not your daughter…" Willow noted…

"That is the only reason I'm willing to be mild with her now…" Buffy, grim look… "It's not true defiance…Just my failure to be a good sister and set a decent example…However, now that it's established that I am her mother…Things will be different…"

"Buffy…She's not a child…"

"Even by the lax standards of this era, she's not an adult, Willow…So long as I have charge of her, she'll be raised as I think appropriate…"

"I don't mean to interfere…"

"No…I understand…I appreciate you're wanting to help me with her…"

The door opened and a frowning Dawn emerged…Bearing a folder…

"Nice of you to join us…" Buffy eyed her as she came to the table…

"I said I was working on them…" Dawn set the folder she'd carried down… Opening it…

"Have you found a place?..." Willow, hastily…

"I got some picks…" Dawn nodded… "But I still like UCLA…"

"Out of the question…" Buffy shook her head… "I will be here in England for some time…And I want you living nearby, if not with me…"

"It's college, Mom…" Dawn, fuming a little… "I'd like to get used to living on my own…"

"If I'm paying for it…And I am…" Buffy frowned…

"Just until I can get more scholarship money…" Dawn replied…

"I don't mind the expense…Outrageous as it is…" Buffy shook her head… "But I want you where I can keep an eye on you…I still have enemies you know…One of whom recently tried to kill us…"

"We don't know that…And this isn't about your enemies…" Dawn replied… Hard look… "You want me to be your little girl forever…"

"Certainly not…" Buffy was a bit less stern… "Though it's only natural I want a little more time with my daughter…"

"We'll have time…But I gotta do what I wanna do…" Dawn, firmly…

"Ridiculous…" Buffy shook her head… "You're my daughter…Under age…And you'll do as I say…Now show me one in Europe…What about Cambridge?..."

"You keep pushing Cambridge…I understand it was Dad's university but I don't like the English schools…"

"What?...In my day, a girl would be grateful to have the chance to study at the greatest university in the world…And your lack of ability in languages doesn't leave you with much other option…"

"I'd rather go to an American school…"

"But I say no…" Buffy, smiling coolly… "And I am not a modern mother who delights to see her little spirit child fly free as on that dreadful television program the other night…Which all I can say is the flimsiest excuse for poor parenting…The liberation of women was never…" she continued

"Yeah, yeah…You're an old-fashioned mom…But I want some choice…" Dawn cut in…

"And you have it…So long as you choose a school near me here in Europe…"

God…Dawn fumed… "Willow…?"

"Miss Rosenberg isn't your mother…And if you take the Lord's name again in that tone, I'll lock you in your room until you are of age… Then you may choose whatever school you can afford…"

"You never had to put up with this…" Dawn, sputtering now…

"I believe I went to university in Sunnydale…Barely two or three miles from home…" Buffy looked to Willow…

"Four…" Willow said, helpfully…

"I'm offering you a chance to choose from dozens of schools…Just not so far away as America…I need my daughter, Amelia…At least within relatively easy reach…" somewhat plaintive tone at end…

"Oh, please…" Dawn frowned…But sighed…"Anywhere in Europe?..."…

"Assuming you can be accepted, yes…And I think that's rather generous…"

"And when I'm 'of age'?...I can transfer if I want…?"

"Transfer?..." Buffy looked to Willow…

"Change schools midway…Kids do it all the time these days…"

Damn modern intercommunication…Buffy thought…

"Yes…Fine…" she snapped a little…

"I'll think it over…" Dawn noted…

Buffy looked yet again to Willow…She'll what?...

Willow giving Do Nothing look…

"So when do we call Dad up…Forth…Whatever?..." Dawn asked, problem solved… "Are you set yet, Willow?..."

"I've gone over all the séances I know…Pooled the best of the best… There's a new moon coming up which for some cases helps, so I guess o, if you guys are ready…"

"We have everything I could collect from the Council, plus Henri's contributions of my own things…" Buffy noted…Still clearly a bit miffed…

She'll graciously let me know?...

"So we gotta do this at night?..." Dawn asked…

"Maybe it's old-witches-and-wives…Witches do get married like other people you know…Tales…But the general opinion is it's better…The new moon thing seems to have a lot of support as well…"

"Tomorrow night, then…" Buffy nodded…

"Ok…" Dawn's attitude became rather more somber…Even apprehensive… "Mom?...If Daddy…"

"I'll go and get him then…" Buffy said, quietly…Then relaxing…A smile… "But he's not in Hell, Dawn…That much I'm sure of…Lost somewhere, yes… But not in Hell…"

She nodded firmly and Dawn, slowly…Ok…

"I do kinda like Milan…" she smiled a bit…And got up… "I'm meeting Stephanie to go shopping downtown…"

"Back for dinner…" Buffy, firmly…

"Yeah…"

"And be careful…London's not the best place for two young girls…"

"Girl and Slayer girl…" Dawn corrected…"I'm covered, Mom…You said yourself Stephanie's one of the brightest…"

"Just be careful…Dawn?..." hurt tone as Dawn headed for the front door in a rush, grabbing for the hallway closet door…

"Right…You know I feel ridiculous doing this…" Dawn frowned…But taking out a jacket from the closet, returned quickly to them and pecked at Buffy's cheek with hasty kiss… "See ya at dinner…Bye, Wil'…I'll let you know what we find…" she hurried to the door and went out…Closing door firmly…

"She'll think it over?..." Buffy frowned at Willow…

"You won, she's staying in Europe…Take the silver and go home…" Willow shook her head…

Hmmmn…

"So…You know he's not in Hell…?" Willow, diverting…

"Not if there is even a moderately just God…" Buffy eyed her friend… "But of course I don't 'know'…Whatever I feel…But what did you expect me to tell her?..."

"And we're bound for Hell if he is?...I mean, 'cause there's no way you'd go without me…"

"We are…And I'd need you to open a portal anyway…" Buffy, wry smile…

"Giles'll love that…"

"That grieves me…"

"He did help you out at the meeting…"

"He saved his Council from an irreparable split that would have left it powerless and did the minimum possible for those who've done the real fighting for centuries…But…I'll keep my end of the bargain if he does his…"

"And if he objects to you…To us…Going after William?..."

"Then I pray he does nothing more than object…"

Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXVII...

"Buffy?..." Willow asked…

No answer as they continued down the hall…Watchers, Observers, the occasional Slayer eyeing them…Buffy nodding politely to several…

"Cicely…"

"Magda…" Buffy paused before the desk of the large, middle-aged woman in rather frightening blouse who guarded the sanctum sanctorum of Chairman Giles…

"Ms. Rosenberg and I would like a brief word with the Chairman, please…"

"I'll see if he's available…" Magda curtly indicated two chairs...

Willow glanced a bit sidelong, looking for her famed stick…

There were rumors, after all, about that stick…

Not that Magda seemed particularly of the faith in her actions…Though physically one might, if one were inclined to stereotypes, one might say she fit, in a modern form, the bill…

Something distinctly Margaret Hamiltonian about her set jaw…

"Willow?..." Buffy called her to a seat beside her…

"I doubt Giles has anything for us, Buffy…"

Buffy regarded her friend, not harshly…But not a word…

"Are you mad at me?..." Willow asked… "'Cause I gave it my all, you know…"

"I believe you…" Buffy said quietly…Looking at Giles' door where Magda had closed it immediately after entering…Summoned in by him after informing him as to the presence of visitors…

"I'm not angry at you…" she added, after a pause…

"I just prefer not to talk for the moment…"

"I know you had your hopes up…" Willow tried…

"Please…" Buffy raised a gloved hand…

Back to full Cicely regalia, Willow sighed, eyeing the hat which in fact had probably been the best possible move, Magda having given it such an approving look…

This can't be good…

"Just a moment…" a re-emerged Magda informed them…Door again closed firmly behind her…

"Thank you…" Buffy replied, smoothing her blouse…Lace on top, Willow noted…

Definitely not good…Cicely in warpaint…

"Dawn didn't want to come…?" Willow tried a new tack…

"She's quite upset…I thought it best she not…"

"I'm sorry…"

"Yes, thank you…" Buffy stared at the wall opposite…

A slight tremor over her face, Willow noted…

The hands moving a bit…

"We will try again, you know…" she said hastily…

"Yes, so you said last night…Thanks…"

"I'm your friend, Buffy…I want to be Cicely's friend…"

"You are…Please…I've no desire to discuss the matter…"

"Should I go?..." Willow eyed her…

"I asked you to come…Please stay…"

"Ok…"

Slight clenching of fists, Willow noted…

God, if only I'd had an English girlfriend…I don't understand how to deal with this…Reserve thing…

The door opened…Giles came out…

"Come in, ladies…Magda, hold all calls unless urgent…"

They went in…Giles sat behind his desk…

"Where is my husband?..." Buffy asked quietly…

"Your séance…Failed…?" he eyed her, then Willow…

"Yeah…" Willow nodded… "But we'll…"

"Where is my husband…?" Buffy repeated…A bit louder, though not much…

"I don't know, Cicely…" Giles replied… "If I did I would…"

"…Kill him…" Buffy finished…

"It would do us no good to harm him now…We haven't…If that's your thinking…"

"There's no reason Willow couldn't reach his soul or track it to another dimension unless…"

"You found no trace…?" he eyed Willow…

"Nothing…It's strange…"

"It's impossible…" Buffy corrected coldly… "Unless his soul is either not detached from a physical body or it's destroyed on all but the highest plane…"

"Do you think we destroyed him?...Or have him?..." Giles, quietly…

"That is what I need to find out…" Buffy said… "You are the only ones I'm familiar with with a strong motive for eliminating him…"

"I'm sure William the Bloody had more enemies than us…"

"Very few who would or could go to such lengths…"

"The First might be up to something…" Willow suggested…

"She would want me to know he was existing and suffering…I'd calculated for that…" Buffy said… "Her plan would be to lure me to Hell where she might still have power…"

"You were gonna walk into…" Willow looked at her…

"I've defeated her as Buffy Summers…I'd do it again…But no need to take such a risk…She doesn't have him…Who does, Mr. Giles?..."

"Not us, Mrs. Walthrop…"

"I've heard a report has come in from Los Angeles…May we hear the gist…?"

"The mission failed to secure Angel…Dr. Wyndham-Price is reviewing the details with the cyborgs' commander right now…There will be a full report to the Council shortly…"

"I see…Then we must take stronger action, mustn't we?..."

"Perhaps…But in due time…"

"Giles…" Buffy suddenly trembled, reddened, and to the shock of both her companions burst into tears…A rather copious flood…

Giles stared at her, then Willow… "Buffy…" he tried…

No avail…Another look at Willow, who appeared equally helpless to stem the tide…

"Magda…" he called…

A box of tissues appeared on desk as if teleported…Willow barely able to glimpse the instantly departing secretary as she closed the door gently but firmly…Giles gingerly offering the box to a Buffy bent over in her chair, trying desperately to staunch the flow with her gloves…

She grabbed the box, pulling tissues…

"I'm sorry…Sorry…" she put up a hand while daubing with the other… "I'd hoped so much to reach him…Be sure he was all right…Oh, Giles…If you know anything, help me…Please…They all say you loved me like a daughter…Won't you help me?...And Dawn?..."

"Buffy…I've always told you…If I knew anything…Please believe me…" he looked rather anxiously at Willow…

"Someone must be trying to prevent me from finding him…" she shook her head… "They tried in Rome and now somehow they've blocked me off from reaching him…" she looked up at the two…Both Willow and Giles vaguely trying to make comforting motions…

"What?..." she stared at them… "Oh…Yes, thanks…I'm better now…I've needed a good cry…"

Willow eyeing Giles eyeing her…Look, I'm no more used to weeping Buffy than you…

"Now as to practicalities…" Buffy was utter calm again… "I assume that these 'Partners' of Angel's…We called them the Rulers of Hell in my day…Could have interfered, if they chose, in Willow's efforts…?" she eyed them expectantly…

"People?..." she looked at their still startled faces… "I said I'm better now…Let us to the matters at hand…"

"Ah, yes…I suppose so, Buffy…" Giles nodded…Still a bit flustered, Willow saw… "But I don't see why they should…Unless…"

"Yes…" she nodded… "If they know I am back…They would seek to use William against me…Lure me in…They'd know it would be sure to bring me in…Angelus likely ready for me, with them…"

"How could…?"

"Surely an organization like Wolfram-Hart, as you people describe it, could maintain the same surveillance on you that you do on them…I do trust your surveillance is adequate, Mr. Giles…?" hard stare…

"We believe so…" he frowned slightly… "But you could certainly be right…"

"We don't know yet about Angel…" Willow tried…

"But as Mr. Giles has noted many times, we must assume the worst of the fellow…For our own safety…" Buffy, cool nod… "We gave him a chance to come with our team and explain himself…He refused…Now he must take his chances…"

"He didn't know they were ours…"

"He's made no effort to clear himself…I see no reason to worry ourselves about him…If he stays out of our way, fine…If he interferes… Or takes an active part against us…"

"You're not thinking of going in…To LA?..." Willow stared…

"Not yet…" Buffy shook her head… "I've no desire to spring their trap until I'm sure they have the bait…And we may yet get more useful information out of my, as you people say, ex-…He always had a reputation for delighting in broadcasting his plans…"

"But if, as you say, the Partners are aware of Cicely's presence in you…And seeking to use your quest for William to lure you into their power…" Giles…

"I've said I won't be so foolish as to go charging in without more information…But this could be a very hopeful sign…Yes…" Buffy reflected… "I knew I felt his presence…Willow…He's not out of this world…" she looked at Willow… "He's on this plane yet…Somewhere, somehow…"

"Can you be sure of that?..." Giles asked… "You didn't know before the séance attempt…"

"I know now…" Buffy nodded… "The séance was just that…An attempt…Yes, it fits…The amulet was given by the Partners via Angelus…It may have been planned by them all along…He hasn't left this world and that is why I have returned…" she rose…

"Yes, I definitely feel better…" she offered a hand to Giles… "Thank you…Come, Willow…We must go and speak to poor Dawn…She has to know at once her father is still with us in this world…"

"But Buf…We don't know for sure…" Willow tried…

"I know…And logically it makes sense…Besides, should we be wrong…It will comfort the girl and I can always take a tour of Hades for him later…Lets be off…I should contact Henri as well…He has some knowledge of the Rulers…Or did in our former days…Mr. Giles, let me know when Dr. Wyndham-Price will make his report…I believe I should have a plan of operation by then to discuss…Willow?..." she waited, expectantly…

Ummn… "Coming…"

They strode off down the hall after Buffy paused to assure Magda she was quite all right…Just a minor jag…

Out of the office they entered the nearby subway station and boarded a car…

"You are ok?..." Willow asked as they moved down the car… "I mean if you'd like to talk or maybe…"

"What?...Oh…I'm fine…A good cry is far superior to these remedies of pills and talk you people seem obsessed with…He responded well, don't you think?..." Buffy asked…Taking a seat after a quick dusting…

"Giles wants to help you, Buf…"

"I mean to the tears…He seemed quite distressed for me…" Mona Lisa smile…

"Buffy?..."

"No, no, it was perfectly sincere…But a Slayer learns to make full use of all available weapons…And it was useful to me to gauge his reaction after our failure last night…" Buffy smoothed her skirt as a young man across from them in leather jacket with large ring piercing his cheek and hair cut to leave two large side locks on a large bald head eyed her and the large, trimmed hat on her head with clear surprise…She returning a pleasant smile which he in turn returned…

"And?..." Willow stared…

"I didn't kill him immediately…" Buffy, continued smile… "That should tell you something…"

"So he's off your enemies list?..."

"I reserve judgment for the moment…But I believe he doesn't know where William is…And probably didn't interfere with your séance…"

"I suppose I should be pleased you believe I did my best…"

"Willow, I trust you…" Buffy looked at her… "I don't remember our past times together, I'm sorry, but I do have a feeling…And did from the start…That I could trust you…"

"Thanks…And of course you watched me like a hawk…"

"Of course…This isn't a game…My husband's soul…And mine, I think…Are at stake…And perhaps our Dawn's as well…There is a purpose in my being recalled at this time…A crisis is brewing…"

"Has it occurred to you the Partners…?"

"Of course…And very likely they had a hand in my return…Cicely, doubtless, has more at stake here…"

"Well…Buffy…" Willow, hastily…

"Loves Dawn and William, I'm sure…But doesn't…Or didn't know the full story…They probably hope I'll prove vulnerable…But it's not them I'm concerned about…They fear defeat on Earth and dread return to Hell…They've always hedged their bets and were probably quite sincere in offering the amulet to stop the First…"

"Like Spike?...They like the world…?"

"So long as they can twist it to suit them…Yes…Though if they can destroy us…William and me, they will…But it's him I'm concerned about…"

"Angel?...Buffy, I…"

"Angelus…?" harsh laugh… "I've defeated worse than him when I was thirteen…No, he's a pawn at best…Though if he has turned, I'll take great pleasure in having the freedom to destroy him…No…Simon is the one I'm worried about…"

"The Watcher?...Your Watcher…The guy who…"

"Destroyed us…Almost…Yes…"

"But…Human…Dead…Long dead at your cousin Henry's hands…"

"God bless his noble soul…But Willow…Simon Duncan Farris is not one to give up so easily…Hell, he may have arranged my return for ought I know…It would be like him…"

"How…Did he go demon…?"

"Willow, I came back…William is here…Amelia Dawn's soul has returned… And if you people are right, every player in the game started in 1880 has made an appearance here…D'Hoffryn, Halfreck…Drusilla…"

And I know Simon is here…She nodded grimly…

"He sent me a calling card in Rome…"

"That dart?..."

"His operatives always used them…Air guns, I mean…Very effective with wood darts against vampires and leaving less noise and fuss than arrows or guns…I would guess that Sir Conan Doyle got his mad professor Moriarty from city tales of Simon's operatives prowling about…"

Really?...

"But why didn't you…?" Willow stopped…Eyeing Buffy narrowly…

"You thought…"

"No…I doubted Simon would be so obvious…But the possibility existed and I had to be cautious…Though actually…" she grinned a bit… "You would've been a better choice for him than Mr. Giles…He'd've enjoyed becoming my 'best friend'…He was, after all…Once…" grim look returned…

"I'm not…"

"You wouldn't know until he'd made his move, dear Willow…" Buffy patted her arm… "But I am sure it's not you…He's probably lurking in the shadows, keeping his distance, perhaps not even yet fully running his reincarnate…"

"A relative, maybe…"

"Possibly…"

"So that's why you stayed on with the Council, isn't it?...You think he's there…A counselor?..."

"Likely…He'd want to be close to the center…And I needed to keep track of their actions…And perhaps accept their help if they can be trusted… And of course…"

"They would have any records of his family…Buffy, why didn't you let me know?...If you didn't think I was…"

"I've trusted no one, Willow…I couldn't…He has a talent for penetrating any circle and could be almost any one…The only one I could turn to has been Henri…"

"Henri's been searching for him…" Willow eyed her…

"As best he can…As have I…But now that I know William is somewhere about…And I know you all better…I can tell you at least…Though you must promise to keep this secret…He must be kept off-balance as to whether I know of him or not…"

"He's that dangerous…"

"He defeated me…Temporarily…And as I came back for the second round, so did he…Determined to finish what he set out to do…"

Kill anyone coming between us, whom I love, to torment me, then destroy me forever…she explained…Preferably by dragging my soul down to his depths…

"What about my friend, Buffy?...What about her soul?..." Willow eyed her…

"I'm sure she wants what I want…And is involved as much as she can be… In the end it's my soul, Willow…We are one, if not fully aware of each other's existence…"

"And Angel?...She wouldn't want you to kill him, Cicely…At least not without being absolutely sure…"

"Then perhaps…I won't…" Buffy eyed her… "After all…Why would I want to kill my beloved vampire ex-boyfriend who stumbled into a soul and appears to be at considerable risk of losing it and his hero's status?...Hardly something Buffy Summers would do…Eh, Wil?..."

Willow eyed her…She returning an innocent look…

"I think it's time Buffy returned to the stage…" she said quietly…

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXVIII...

En route to Rome…

"Hope I'm up to this..." sigh...

"Andrew, you'll be fine..." pat...

"Dawn..."

"Yep...He'll be fine...Best Watcher ever..." from seat behind them...

"How long before you go on to Milan?..." he called back...

"Two days..." the answer called forward...

"We'll have to do a lot of shopping from the moment we hit the tarmac...If you can keep up with us, Andy, you need have no doubts of your Watcher abilities..."

"Darned tootin'..." Dawn called...

London...Conference room in the underground Watcher archives and research facility...

"Will you stop?..." Willow sighed... "You're gonna wear the floor out...It's gonna be fine..."

"Stupid, stupid..." mutter... "How could I be so foolish?...We should go to Rome at once..."

"Mrs. Walthrop..." Roger eyed the pacing Buffy... "This was the plan...And Dawn will only be with them in Rome for two days...Then on to Milan...Where our people...A more than adequate force of Slayers...Will keep a close eye on her..."

"I should have gone with them...Let my counterpart come in later...If something goes wrong..."

"Henri will be in Rome...There'll be plenty of Slayers..." Willow noted...

"And your daughter truly appreciated your letting her do this..." Roger cut in... "I know how hard it is to let her go, Cicely...But she will be alright..."

"I'm worried for Andrew as well...And my duplicate..."

"Both well-trained..." Roger noted confidently...

Perhaps a bit too confidently with regard to Wells...He did not note...

"There's no reason to think anybody's going to target them..." Willow said... "We didn't run into any real trouble in Rome on our trip..."

"This time it may be different...And if Simon knows she's an impersonator..." Buffy sighed...

"That information has been as restricted as possible..." Roger noted...

Wry smile... "Unless of course you suspect I might be Dr. Farris, returned..."

"Not since you and Mr. Giles agreed to allow Willow to scan yourselves for extraordinary aural patterns..." Buffy replied, equally wry smile... "Though to be honest, one can't be sure with Simon...He could be lurking anywhere...In anyone..."

"You're so convinced this one incident in Rome proved his return...?" Roger asked...

"As I told Willow and the rest of you...It makes logical sense...Everyone else from my past is here or has been...Why not Simon?...And it would be like him to move deliberately, merely letting out a warning flare or two to rattle me..."

"Which he seems to be doing well, I agree..." she sighed to Willow's anxious face... "You're right, both of you...I made the decision to go ahead with this scheme...I must live with the consequences..."

"Sarah's a great actress as well as a Slayer..." Willow noted... "The best we could've sent to Rome...She's got Buffy and Cicely down to a T...She'll do fine...And so will Andrew and Dawn..."

"Just so long as we can teleport the instant any trouble shows..." Buffy eyed Willow...

"Blink of an eye, Buf..." nod... "Well...Once I get the coordinates and power up a bit..." she responded to Buffy's hard stare...

"Have to do, I suppose...And of course there's always dear Angelus...Angel...And his little partners from Hell..." Buffy frowned... "With any luck he ought to make his move fairly soon..."

"I know..." she sighed to Willow's troubled face... "We must allow him some benefit of the doubt until he's fully proven Evil...For my other self's sake...And my friends' if not his own..."

Anyway...She looked at her clenched hands...Unclenching... "We've taken an active step to throw our enemies...Or potential enemies...Off- balance...They'll wonder at my exposing Amelia Dawn to any danger and assume I must be the one in Rome, whatever reports of me in other areas surface...We now have some freedom of action, presuming all goes well in Rome..."

"Andy and co can handle it..." Willow attempted to project confidence...Buffy eyeing her narrowly... "But what do we now while your Slayer clones and cyborgs are scattering round...?"

"Obviously we need information...Particularly on the situation in Los Angeles with your...Our...Friend Angel...If we could make a reconnaissance..."

Buffy paused at the sour stares...

"Buffy..." Willow frowned... "We...Including Giles...Had your promise..."

"I'm not talking about an attack...Just..."

"Mrs. Walthrop, we have just gone to a great deal of effort to establish your new home in Rome..." Roger noted...

"And several other places round the world..." Willow added...

"And we can maintain those false locations...But these 'Partners' will be expecting me to try and reach Angelus...Angel...A quick view of the lay of the land...Perhaps a quick, unexpected meeting with the dear fellow himself...We could be back before any compromising of the false Ms. Summers' would occur..."

"If they're expecting you, they're expecting a sudden drop-in, probably by magics..." "I agree with Miss Rosenberg, it's very likely they'd be prepared for you, Mrs. Walthrop..."

"However..." Roger put up a hand at Buffy's frown... "Another, in depth reconnaissance is not a bad idea...One less threatening than our previous attack...Perhaps a single cyborg in your form...Since a cyborg could be equipped with instant memory wipe to protect our information..."

"I'm perfectly capable..." Buffy began...

Knocking at the conference room door silenced her and brought all three to their feet...

"Mrs. Walthrop?...Dr. Wyndham-Price?...Ms. Rosenberg?...The Chairman needs to see you all at once in his office..." a young female, Observer, Willow noted... With more eager than anxious look...

Probably nothing serious...

Chairman Giles' new and permanent office at the underground facility...

Where in addition to Buffy, Willow, and Roger, half-a-dozen other senior members of the Council-normal human, Slayer, and cyborg among them, were now gathered...

"And this one came direct from Angel?..." Willow asked...

"He called my office...Not quite sure how he got this line..." Giles indicated the phone on his desk... "But he does have the resources of Wolfram-Hart at his fingertips..."

"Poor Fred..." Willow shook her head...

"You know her?..." Buffy asked...Willow nodding...

Nice kid...Fine physicist with a fair smattering of occult knowledge...Sounds bad..."

"Very bad if Angel was giving me all the details..." Giles nodded...

"And you told him that we could do nothing...?" Buffy asked...

"While he continued his work with Wolfram-Hart, yes...Although as Ms. Sinclair's report..." he nodded to Ms. Sinclair in her chair to Willow's left... "...indicates...There seems little that could be done...The amount of energy needed to recover and stabilize Dr. Burkle's soul would be enormous...The disruption its employment would cause by the methods we're aware of so devastating..."

"In short, we can do nothing...A pity..." Buffy shook her head... "It would offer a perfect excuse to visit my dear old boyfriend and see exactly what he's up to...As well as his Partners..."

"It could of course be a trap as well...Even if Angel had no knowledge of it..." Giles noted... "The Partners would certainly be pleased to have a chance at capturing you and Willow...Since Angel knows Willow has known Dr. Burkle..."

"Yes...I suppose the best course of action is to await developments, just right now..." Buffy agreed..."The woman, after all, should have been aware of the danger in dealing with the beings employed by this 'Wolfram-Hart'..."

"Winifred's a good person, Buffy..." Willow cut in... "I'm sure whatever Angel decided and why in this Partners' deal, she didn't deserve this..."

"She didn't leave Los Angeles or Angel's employ..." Buffy replied... "I'm sorry if she was a friend but..."

"We don't know what happened to Angel's people...Even if Angel voluntarily cut a deal, Wesley..." Willow eyed Roger who simply stared back... "...And the others might not have agreed to it...They might have been forced to it...Or stayed to try and break the Partners' hold..."

She turned to Giles... "I'd like to review everything he gave you about her condition...Maybe there's something else we could do for her..."

"Yes, I concur..." Buffy nodded... "If we could offer Angel some help in this...For the lady's sake as well as the chance it might offer..." she eyed Willow's curt stare...

"What we have, you are welcome to review...Though Willow, I recommend no direct contact with Angel by you..." Giles, insistent...

"Definitely not..." Buffy agreed... "You are doubtless of great interest to the Partners as Mr. Giles says...A trap for you alone would be no less a danger to us...Though perhaps it's not the best strategy to have Angel convinced we all distrust him...It seems to me the real threat is to Miss Rosenberg here, not to me...If a trap it would involve someone with great occult power or knowledge...And as you all have explained to me, my old self is not exactly blessed with either..."

"You aren't going, Buffy..." Willow said firmly...

"I agree..." Giles, nodding... "We'll consider a cyborg reconnaissance or a human agent, one not bearing any vital information, perhaps, but..."

The phone on his desk beeped...He picked up...

"Yes?...Put it through, Magda...Yes, Reynolds...? I see...Thanks..." he replaced the phone and eyed the group...

"I'm afraid our discussion is academic...The occult energy stream into Dr. Burkle's body terminated twenty minutes ago...Our monitors in LA report that her transformation has been completed...I'm sorry, Willow..."

"Willow..." Buffy took her hand... "I am sorry...If I seemed indifferent..."

"Yeah...?" Willow frowned at her...Giles... "It could've been me...Any time I was playin' round with magics, especially in the old days...She didn't deserve this...We should've tried to help when Angel called..."

"Willow, judging from the reports, it was probably too late when Angel called us..." Giles said quietly... "And we couldn't have been sure so quickly if it were...Or is... A trap..."

"What demon took the girl's body?..." Roger asked...All looking at him as his voice caught a bit... "We should establish that...Quickly..." he went on hastily...Coughing a bit at the end...

"We're trying to get confirmation...Based on what Angel told us...Illyria..."

"Illyria of Vahla ha'nesh...?" Buffy asked...

"You know her?..." Willow asked...

"I fought her high priest in 1874..." Buffy noted... "It wasn't her time to resurrect then but he'd hoped to reconstitute her army and lead it himself... According to Simon and that fellow...What was his name?...Moran?...She was one of the original Immortals, an Old One..."

"Quite so..." Giles nodded... "And potentially a devastating ally for the Partners..."

"If she wishes to be an ally..." Ms. Sinclair noted... "Illyria was famous for her independence from the other Immortals...And defeated, in the end, by their mutual alliance, rather a rare thing..."

"She may have changed her attitude with the defeats of the Immortals over the eons..." Giles pointed out... "We'll have to get as much information on her as we can as quickly as we can..."

"If Angel stops her..." Willow began...Looking at Giles, then over to Buffy... "That might prove something..."

"Possibly..." Buffy nodded... "Or only confirm that there is no honor among..."

"Seems a bit cruel to be calling the young woman evil..." Roger spoke up suddenly... "Her fate being such a dreadful one..." his voice rather angry...

"I meant no disrespect to the dead..." Buffy, apologetic... "If she was an innocent victim..."

Roger rose and left the room...Before Giles, rising from his chair could speak to him...Slamming door...

Buffy staring about room... "I..." she paused... "Honestly, I meant no..."

"It's all right, Buffy..." Giles shook his head... "I believe you read the report from our cyborg reconnaissance..." She stared at him...Hmmn?...

"Wesley liked Fred..." Willow explained to her... "A lot..."

"I'm afraid Dr. Wyndham-Price is rather more concerned about young Wesley's fate than he feels it right to show..." Giles, quietly...

"Of course..." Buffy nodded... "It was thoughtless of me..." she rose... "If you'd excuse me...?"

"Best to let me speak to him, Buffy... Roger is an old, old friend..." Giles suggested... "I'm sure he didn't take your remarks personally..."

"As you think best, Rupert..." Buffy nodded... "Willow?...Truly..."

"I know..." Willow nodded... "Maybe we best leave it to Giles for now..."

"Well...Suppose we adjourn while more data is collected...We'll discuss the situation again tomorrow, same time..." Giles eyed the group... "Should anything new arise, I'll contact you..."

"I'm not to take my training day as English Buffy until Wednesday..." Buffy noted... "If it's all right I'll assist in some of the research on these new developments with Willow till then?..."

"Of course..." Giles nodded... "And don't worry about Roger..."

"I understand his feelings completely...Please tell him I apologize for such thoughtless talk...I of all people ought to be more compassionate in such matters...Willow?..."

"You also gotta work on that accent..." Willow pointed out... "Unless you and Giles decided to go with Cicely here..."

"Nah...We wanna try and be consistently American in all of us if possible..." Buffy gave an arch look... "Better?..."

"Gettin' there..." Willow nodded...

"We should start with the 'Oracle of Nemostheis'...That was the primary source for the Old Ones that Simon made me review before my fight in 1874..." Buffy suggested as the two headed down the corridor from Giles' office...Her flowered hat firmly replanted and pinned...Willow looking back to the watching Giles, shrugging...

Buffy the Research Expert?...Who knew...?

He watched them a moment and giving word to Magda to hold all calls went from his office to the newly-established "Office of the Vice- Chairman"...Knocking briefly...

"Roger?..." he knocked on the inner office door after admission by the rather anxious-looking young secretary...A Ms. Rami, a Slayer of considerable secretarial as well as tactical skill...

"Come..." terse reply...

Giles closing the inner door on entry...Eyeing the Vice-Chairman in his chair...

"Roger?...You know I..."

"He loved her, you know..." Roger sighed... "I even imprinted my copy to urge things along during our cyborg recon...Of course I knew he was annoyed that we were isolating him and Angel in this project...I'd hoped, perhaps, if he believed the advice came from me..."

"Roger, I'm sorry...As is Mrs. Walthrop..."

"She'd no way of knowing..." Roger looked steadily at Giles... "And they all volunteered for this, didn't they?...All knew the potential risks of working or pretending to work with the Partners..." He eyed a painting on his new wall...A vision of Revelation, Giles noted, looking after him...The damned and elect being sorted at Judgment...

"But...Did they know the potential risks of working with us?..." a hard stare at Giles...

"Who..?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXIX...

"You sure about this?..."

"Of course…What, you don't believe I can handle it?..."

"The plan was to keep you out of sight…" Willow avoided a direct answer…They continued on their way, across one of the back fields of Giles' country estate where a large pre-fab building had been set up…

The new if temporary training facility of the Council…

"The plan is to keep Cicely out of sight…And Buffy quite prominent…In various locations…" Buffy noted… "How better to convince our enemies that I've either recovered as Ms. Summers or gone underground, perhaps permanently…And I need to be able to operate in the world…Ergo I need to hone my skills at playing your Buffy as well as rebuild my fighting skills…Which given this puny frame and the lack of training I've had since my re-emergence…"

"…Besides…The other Slayers in my form are taking great risks…I must take my turn at Fortuna's wheel…" she gave Willow a wry look… "Not that Fortuna has been especially favorable to me in the last century…"

"That was pretty what you read the other night…"

"He admired those old medieval poems…William had great belief in Fate… And understood its cruelty all too well…That's why he endured…And is enduring…" Buffy said quietly… "He would have enjoyed that setting by Mr. Orff…"

"He probably did…He was around the whole time, you know…" Willow noted… "And Spike would have liked the idea of Fortuna torturing men endlessly while he watched eternally…"

"'Fate-monstrous and empty, you whirling wheel, you are malevolent…' He knew…As I did…What waited to snatch all our happiness from our hands…" Buffy said quietly…

"I won't believe that..." Willow shook her head… "It's not doom from the start, and not forever…And we're not helpless pawns…I refuse to believe it's all for nothing…"

"Nor do I…Nor did he…But Fortuna is a cruel enemy…The cruelest of all… And if I am to beat her one day…If Will and I are to…I must know her to the depths of her soulless heart…And beat her this time, at her own game…"

She eyed Willow with a smile…Involuntarily with one hand fussing at her loose, Buffy-style hair… "And lucky am I to have a friend whose people have done that since the beginning of time…If a bit sad to hear about the fall of the German humanist spirit…I know Will was disturbed by the rise of Prussia but…"

"Nobody's hands are very clean these days…" Willow sighed… "But having seen my darkest side I'm still hopeful…And that goes back to Angel…

Buffy…Cicely…You don't know the man…He's been as great a hero as Buffy in his way…I still don't believe he's turned to Evil…"

"You yourself said he'd become Angelus again before…Multiple times… Couldn't that be the case now?...He was always known for his patience in dealing with victims…"

"Maybe…But this last thing about Winifred isn't Angelus' style…He'd never fret about Darla, let alone a human minion…And we've had reports from all over suggesting he's restraining WH staffers, even making them do some good…"

"In other words, he's allowed himself to believe he can control the dark forces there…To justify his selfish action to protect his son…"

"You were willing to end the world to save Dawn…" Willow noted… "And I doubt Cicely would behave any differently than Buffy did then…"

"Probably…But if you're asking me to show Angel some indulgence I would point out that I've made no move against him, nor as yet allowed the Council to do so…Even though I suspect he has something to do with William's apparent destruction at Sunnydale…And with our inability to locate his soul now…"

"Angel wouldn't keep Spike…William…From you…"

"Some ex-lover he was then…Not even jealous?..." arch look…

"He'd moved on, I think…Though he did love you…Buffy, he intended to use the amulet himself, you know…"

"So we were led to believe…And yet, he hardly pressed for it…And didn't even stay to assist us…"

"You tole him to go…As Buffy, anyway…"

"Lucky for him he was less of a fool for love than William…" Buffy said quietly…Willow shaking her head…. "Willow, I've taken your word for his redeemed nature and haven't harmed him…I won't if he is as you say you hope, merely trying to deceive the Partners or even twist them to the cause of good…But he is a fool if he believes he can use them as his instrument…They will corrupt him…"

"…And I can wait till there's proof of that…Unless we learn he does have Will…" cool smile…Frown at ungloved hands…

"This sun is sure to ruin my hands…I don't care how much of that fancy cream we put on them…"

"If you want to be Buffy here…" Willow noted… "We're pushing it enough with the skirt…" she eyed the long skirt Buffy wore…

"I tried wearing those trousers…They were ridiculously tight…Worse than my old corset trying to move in them…Besides, I feel naked in them…" Sheepish shrug… "Maybe I could set a new fashion for wearing gloves…"

"Ummn…I don't think it's a good idea, Buf…"

"Counselor-General?..." a call from the building's door as they approached…

"Comin'…" Buffy waved…Quick revert from attempted Califorian… "You have to admit the boots were a good idea for this place…"

"Ok…" Willow nodded…Eyeing the thick muck on her boots…

Rome…

Where a rather startled Dawn watched Henri in furious argument with the owner of their apartment building…A rather pyrotechnic display of virtuosity in Italian…

A sheepish Andrew in bathrobe staring at the smoke coming from their apartment, "Buffy" beside him likewise staring…

"They told me at the airport store the adapter would work just fine…" Andrew repeated for the fifth time now, sighing…Fellow tenants standing by their possessions in the street glaring at him…A few muttering fiercely…

"Just so long as we're all ok…" "Buffy" patted his shoulder as several firemen emerged from the building…

"A little less precise…" Andrew hissed… "Buffy" slightly nodding… Right…

Frowning slightly as he went to Dawn…

I know my business, Wells…Dawn says I've got her down perfectly…

Andrew now joining Dawn in watching His Benevolence in a somewhat less benevolent mood, judging by the gesticulation and sharp tone…The building owner for his part apparently not at all overawed by his opponent…Fierce glare now toward Andrew…Fist shaken…

A policeman approached…

"Andy…" Dawn nudged… "I think the police want to talk to you…"

"Mr. Giles is not going to be happy with this…" he sighed…Heading over to the officer who eyed him and his robe carefully…

Henri gave a final fist shake at the owner who turned on heel and stalked off to the group of tenants collected near the fire trucks in the street… He went over to Dawn…

"Pretty bad?..." she asked…

"Not really…And the building's fully insured…Though he's making the usual wild claims…We'll settle for half of what he wants and it's robbery at that…Bastardi!..." he shook a fist at the owner as he passed, heading back into the building…The owner giving him a glare…

"Sorry…" grin to Dawn… "All part of the game…He wouldn't believe he was getting a fair deal…From his pov…Unless I swore at him…It won't be too bad…I'd best help Andrew out there…" he nodded to where Andrew was describing the events of the evening to the officer and two of the firemen who'd now joined them…Several tenants, looking rather furious, now moving in as well…

"Yeah…Thanks…" she nodded as he headed over…The police officer instantly changing tone from stern interrogator to respectful listener as the Immortal joined the group with polite nod…

"Buffy…" she went to her…

"How's it look?..." "Buffy" asked…

"Henri's sorting it out…Good thing we were able to get hold of him…"

"Helps to have His Benevolence as your significant other, eh?..." arch look… "Andy ok?..."

"I think he'll avoid electrical appliances for the next year, but yeah… It really wasn't his fault…I get confused by the plugs here all the time…And the adapter blew out…"

"I hope this isn't going screw your plans for leaving tomorrow…"

"Nah…But we are gonna hafta find you guys a place to sleep for the next few…"

"Henri's offered to put us up at the villa…"

"Whoa…The villa…" Dawn grinned… "Nice…"

"…And can't hurt…" she whispered…

"Yeah…" "Buffy" nodded, looking round… "We'd best see if they'll let us back in…If there's anything left to save…"

"You still going to start tomorrow…?" Dawn asked…

"Far as I know, yeah…Unless Henri wants to put the shoot off…"

"Just don't be too good…" Dawn hissed, grin…

"Just gotta look pretty, smile, and hold the box up…" "Buffy" smiled… "Even I can do that…"

The police official and firemen gave the Immortal polite handshakes… Andrew somewhat reluctant ones…The official turning to speak to the cluster of angry tenants…Henri winked at the downcast Andrew…

"Looks like things are winding down…" Dawn noted…

"Just the usual post-apocalyptic aftermath…" "Buffy grinned…Waving to Henri and Andrew… All set?...She mouthed…Henri nodding…And turning to speak to the group now engaged with the official…Volume of the conversation steadily increasing…Andrew looking sheepishly after Henri…

Now in intense conversation with several tenants at once…

"Andy!..." Dawn waved him over to them… "We better get him away so Henri can handle them…" she noted to "Buffy" who called to Andrew…

"C'mere Andy!..."

He trudged sadly over, robe dragging a bit…

"We'd better get in and see if you have anything to wear left…" "Buffy" noted… "Henri has things in hand…And we should pack up whatever we can to take to his place…"

"Yeah…" he sighed… "Ladies, I'm really…"

"Buffy" waved a hand… "I've trashed a few places in my time…You should've seen my old high school in LA after I got through with it…"

LA…Dawn sighed…

"That's so awful about Angel's friend…Did Giles say if Angel tried to call him again?..."

"Not a word…" "Buffy" shook her head… "I'm surprised he didn't try to reach me here…Try to get me to persuade Giles…"

"Probably thought you were still in England at the Council HQ…"

"Meaning he's not monitoring me very strictly…I'm disappointed…Some ex- boyfriend I got…You'd think with a global organization at his fingertips, completely with spy satellites and agents in every nation he'd be keepin' an eye on me…"

"There's been some evidence of surveillance…" the Watcher in Andrew kicked in… "Our Slayers are sure the building has been watched several nights in a row…"

"Could be almost anyone…Even photographers trying to catch His Benevolence…" "Buffy" noted…

"Speaking of photos…Sorry to screw up just before you go to work…" Andrew, apologetically…

"It'll be fine…Though I am a leetle nervous…Buffy the model's a career I hadn't planned on…"

"Like you said…Just gotta look pretty and hold things up to the camera..." Dawn grinned…

"Not exactly Slaying…But it does beat Doublemeat Palace…" "Buffy" grinned back… "C'mon, Andrew…Lets go see what's still left…"

"Hang on…" Andrew waved an arm…Ummn…Sorry…He hastily folded his robe ack in place with one hand while putting cell phone to his right ear…

Star Trek underwear?...Dawn eyed 'Buffy'...Who gave a mild shrug…

"Yes, Mr. Chairman?..." he said glumly…

"Fast work…Giles does have us well-monitored…" Dawn noted to "Buffy"…

"What?..." Andrew asked the phone…

The girls stared at each other…Uh-oh…

"Yes, Mr. Chairman…" brisk tone… "It'll be an honor, sir…"

"Sounds ok…Don't worry…" "Buffy" hissed…Dawn watching Andrew carefully…

"I'll leave for the airport immediately, sir…"

Dawn looking anxiously…

"It's ok…" he hissed to her… "Not Cicely…"

Phew…

"Download to my computer, sir?...Ummn…" Andrew paused…

"Sir, I beg to report we had a minor problem tonight, sir…"

Library at Giles' estate…

"And this 'Dana' is definitely a Slayer…?" Buffy asked…

"There's no doubt…" Giles nodded… "But a severely troubled one…"

"I don't like this idea of sending Andrew…" she frowned… "I should go… It's a perfect chance for me to evaluate the situation in Los Angeles…"

"Buffy…We've agreed that you'd refrain from any attempt to seek out Angel until we know the situation better…This whole strategy was conceived with your input…" Giles sighed… "And we both know this could be a trick to bring you out and into the Partners' clutches…"

"I dunno Giles…" Willow, hesitant… "To let Andy do this on his own?..."

"He'll have a full compliment of Slayers…A dozen of our best…"

"I'm sure Wells can accomplish this one with his support…" Roger spoke up… "The Chairman is right, Cicely…We must know what's going on regards this girl before we risk you…"

"I could disguise myself…Willow?...You could return me to my natural form…You said Angel never met Halfreck…He never met me as Angelus…"

"The Partners would know you, Cicely…" Roger noted… "And even if Willow gave you another form by magics, the glam would stand out like a red flag…"

"If anything goes wrong we could send you in…" Giles suggested… "But it would be foolish to risk you at the outset…If all goes well, Andrew will return with valuable information as to what Angel's doing and if his personality has changed…"

"I think the guys are right, Buffy…" Willow, reluctantly… "They probably would pick up any magics I could use…And even a make-over wouldn't fool Angel…But we oughta monitor Andy 24/7 until this is over… What about this girl, Giles?...You said Wesley called you about her…"

"She's been in a psychiatric hospital for years…Apparently the victim of a maniac who murdered her family and tortured her…But she clearly has acquired Slayer abilities…There's no other way to explain her escape…"

"Yeah…But…" Willow eyed Roger briefly… "If Wes called about her…"

"Bait…" Buffy frowned… "Perhaps you're right, Rupert…"

"It could mean Angel's still with us…" Willow shook her head… "They'd've handed her over to the Partners if he weren't, wouldn't they?..."

"Impossible to say…" Giles said quietly…Roger, impassive look…

"In any case we have to secure the poor girl…She's killed already, she's sure to kill again…" Buffy noted… "All right, lets send Andrew as planned…But Willow's right as well…I want this operation monitored constantly…And I will go in if any problem develops…"

"I still think it's a good sign…" Willow, firmly…

"Perhaps…" Buffy, nodded… "But lets see how things develop…Andrew will be in London by this afternoon, you think?..." she addressed Giles…

"If he makes his flight, yes…There were some problems at his and the girls' place last night…"

"…just a minor fire…" he explained to Willow's and Buffy's worried aces… "Electrical malfunction, apparently…They've moved in with the Immortal temporarily…"

Nice…Willow nodded…

"I want to be there and go over the mission with him as well…" Buffy said, emphatically…

"Me too…" Willow chimed in…

"We'll all go…" Giles agreed… "I've arranged for the other members of the Slayer force to meet us there as well…Beth, Irani, Gong Li, and Saundra will come with us…"

"Fine…" Buffy rose…Pausing by Roger's chair… "Doctor, I hope you know I want to believe it is a good sign about your son…" she said quietly…

"Thank you, Mrs. Walthrop…" he nodded…Looking at the row of books across from where he sat…Giles rising…A brief glance at Roger…

Buffy and Giles went out the door…Willow hanging back by the library table…At which Roger still sat, quietly staring at nothing…

"I believe in Wes…" she said quietly…He looked up at her…Blinking quickly…

"Willow?..." call…

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXX...

"O, fellow, come, the song we had last night. Mark it, Cesario, it is old and plain; The spinsters and the knitters in the sun And the free maids that weave their thread with bones Do use to chant it: it is silly sooth, And dallies with the innocence of love, Like the old age."

"Are you ready, sir? "

"Ay, prithee, sing. [Music]

Sings :

"Come away, come away, death,

And in sad cypress let me be laid;

Fly away, fly away breath;

I am slain by a fair cruel maid.

My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,

O, prepare it!

My part of death, no one so true

Did share it.

Not a flower, not a flower sweet

On my black coffin let there be strown;

Not a friend, not a friend greet

My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown:

A thousand thousand sighs to save,

Lay me, O, where

Sad true lover never find my grave,

To weep there!"

Willow eyed Olive...Olive, Willow...The ten Slayers sitting with them in a circle about the Slayer Counselor General staring at their leader...

"Always liked 'Twelfth Night'..." Buffy closed the book, which she'd barely glanced at in her quotation... "Of course our guys in America are great too...Mark Twain and all the newer guys...Right, Willow?..."

"Umm, yeah..."

"Well, back to work, girls...Practice your uplift...Especially you, Simone...It might well save your life..."

The ten Slayers nodded in unison and rose, moving off to resume their practice with the practice dummy vamps and demons scattered about the training hall...

"Something wrong?..." Buffy eyed Willow and Olive...

"I know Shakespeare isn't the biggest thing on the television but he is still performed..."

"Yeah..." Willow nodded... "But..."

"'Twelfth Night' was on the BBC last night...I thought the girls would enjoy it...It is a romantic comedy..."

"That song wasn't exactly..." Willow, diplomatically...

"A bit of a downer, Cicely..." Olive went to the heart...

"Buffy, here, Olive..." Buffy noted... "It's just a song of Feste's..."

"Sorry...Buffy...Perhaps something lighter next time?...Maybe Willow or I could...?"

"If you like...The ladies didn't seem to mind..."

"They're all a long way from home, Buf..." Willow noted... "We might not wanna encourage them feeling..."

"The loss they have endured or must, as Slayers, expect to endure...?" Buffy asked...

"Yeah..."

"I see..." she nodded... "I'll try to find something else next time..."

"You know it well..." Olive said... "You didn't even need the book..."

"I learnt it by heart...One autumn, long ago…" quiet smile... "Well, back to work...Gals!..." she rose, calling to the Slayers... "O…K…Lets try a few practice runs..."

Two of the American Slayers staring at her...Willow rolling eyes...

I should tell her to just stick with the Brit accent...she thought, sighing...

"Her accent's improving, don't you think?..." Olive asked...

Willow glanced at her...

"But she does seem...Is there any word from Mr. Wells?..."

"Not yet...But we don't want to be monitored by Wolfram-Hart, trying to talk to him there...He and his team did get in safely..." Willow...Both women now watching as Buffy began lining her training group up for "practice runs" on a test dummy Willow could swear bore a rather uncanny resemblance to a certain brooding, souled vamp...

"She's no better, Willow...Much as she tries to bear up..." Olive shrugged... "And there's no point hoping time will make her forget..."

"I know..."

"She's drinking more...Especially now that Dawn's away...And in private…She was drunk at dinner the other night, much as she tried to conceal it…"

"I know…She's promised to lay off while she's in training with the girls..."

"The work may help for a time but only finding William alive...If he is alive...In his own unique way...Is going to keep her from going under in the end..."

"I know..." Willow sighed...Watching as Buffy demonstrated a move she'd never seen...

So...That's a Cicely special...Nice...

"Is there any other new information from LA?..."

"Giles says no...But we'll see when Andy gets home...At least he'll be able to tell us what's up with Angel and his guys…"

"Maybe Cicely should go off for a bit...Even leave England for a while...A visit with Dawn?..."

"I think she needs to work, Olive...And it might screw things to have her show in Italy now...Sarah's just getting established..."

"Willow?..." Olive paused...

"If he is dead, we'll do what we can for her..." Willow eyed her... "She believes he's alive...She's sure of it...But the thing is…He hasn't come for her, even tried to get word to her...Buffy at least..."

"...'slain by a fair cruel maid.' Is that what she thinks? That he won't come to her because he hates her now?..."

"I think she's praying he is a prisoner in some Wolfram-Hart containment cell, somewhere... 'Cause if he were free and able to come..."

"But it would be Buffy he's angry at..."

"Not angry..." Willow shook her head... "I was there when Buffy, still Buffy, told us what he said, in Sunnydale... 'No, you don't but thanks...'...Oh, God what a fool I was..." she shook her head... "Why didn't I see what was goin' on?..."

"You didn't know, Willow...She didn't know..."

"Olive, the man won his soul back...And we treated him like..."

"William the Bloody...Which he had been...And might still have been, if he'd been trying something...I'm not saying Rupert's was the right way in dealing with my 'great-uncle' but you can't blame yourself...She can't..."

"No one did a thing for him...We left him alone in a basement for weeks...And if I feel this way, imagine how she must..."

"William would never hate her...Buffy or Cicely..."

"But he might not believe in her...And that's killing her by inches, Olive...After all this, to lose him that way…"

"Then we've got to find him or lay him to rest...Maybe the best thing would be to just go to LA...Let her fight it out with the Partners if need be…"

"She won't go without proof...She's afraid..."

"For Dawn?...Surely not for..."

"She's afraid he might not be there..." Willow sighed... "And I might be right and Angel might be innocent...She wouldn't even have revenge, then...Except on herself…"

"Again!..." Buffy's voice, an exaggerated twang that made Willow wince a bit...

Come on, we don't sound like that...

"Straight through that black heart...!"

"I almost wish..." Olive sighed, watching...

"Maybe if she'd never found Cicely again..." she shrugged...

"In the end, it wouldn't have mattered..." Willow shook her head... "I saw her face those days after he died...It wouldn't have mattered...She loves him in any form...Any century...It wasn't Cicely who drove that bus into a wall…"

"I suppose so..." Olive nodded..."He's a good man, Willow...If he is alive and knew how she's suffering, he'd never leave her like this..."

"I know..."

"If we could get word to him, somehow...Without compromising her or even requiring he let anyone se know of his existence...?" she eyed Willow... "I'm sure he'd come...Or get some word to her..."

"A big banner...'William, call home, your wife and daughter are waiting...'?"

"Something like that...At the very least we'd know...He's either not on Earth or is being held..."

Not bad, Willow reflected...Something proactive, in any case...

"If you miss the heart, aim for the head!..." Buffy called back to her trainees as she walked to where the two stood... "When he moves to protect that pretty face, you'll have him!..."

"Secure…" a voice…The Scandinavian counselor who'd opposed Buffy's motion at the formation of the expanded Council, Andrew recognized after a moment…

He blinked as lights went on…A small room…Giles, the Scandinavian, several other counselors, mostly composed of those who'd challenged the Slayer that day, Roger Wyndham-Price, Ms. Sinclair…All seated round the table at which he found himself seated at the head…

"Sorry to have rushed you in like this, Andrew…" Roger leaning over, patted his shoulder… "That was excellent field work…"

"Indeed…" Giles nodded… "But now we have secured the poor girl thanks to Mr. Wells and his team, we must consider the critical matter at hand…"

"Wells, you are aware of the gravity of the situation?..." he eyed the Andrew seated across from him...

"You don't want me to tell her?..." Andrew stared at him...And the others around the table eyeing him…

Sigh…

"Andrew, what do you think Cicely would do if you did?..."

"Book the first flight to LA if she can't force Willow to take her...Yell at me for not bringing him back...Try hard not to kill Dana...Mr. Giles, why shouldn't I tell her?..."

"You said yourself he requested it…" Ms. Sinclair noted…

"Yes…But I'm asking…Mr. Chairman, why don't you want her told William is alive?..."

"I haven't said you shouldn't…" Giles eyed him… "We are here to discuss the consequences of Walthrop's being alive and if you or I do tell her of that fact…"

"If we don't tell her…And she finds out another way…And knows that we knew…" Andrew looked at Giles…

"Precisely our problem…Particularly, if William should manage to get himself destroyed in the interim…I think it's safe to say that Cicely would have no mercy on us…"

"What exactly did Walthrop say to you about her?..." Ms. Sinclair asked…

"Mr. Chairman…I would like to speak to you in private, sir…" Andrew said, ignoring the question…Ms. Sinclair frowning...

"Later, Andrew…For now…"

"Sir…I respectfully decline to continue my report before this group…I think this should either be discussed in private or before the full Council…"

"Mr. Wells…" Giles frowned…Several round the table glaring at Andrew…

"Very well…Please excuse us, I will brief you all later…" he rose…The others seated all rising…But for Roger the group either eyeing Andrew coldly…Or furiously…

The room emptied but for Roger, Giles, Andrew…Roger turning to go, paused…

"Andrew…You have my support…" he said quietly…And left, a quick glance to Giles…

"Well?..." Giles eyed Andrew…

"You tried to block Buffy's motion…" Andrew said quietly… "Those people were speaking against her on your instructions…"

"I won't deny I didn't feel expansion of the Council and the shift in authority to Cicely Walthrop was the best thing at the time…However I obviously left the matter to the counselors to decide as they did…And once it was clear Cicely had won the support of the majority I backed her…"

"Now you want me to lie to her …"

"I've already said that I simply want us to consider what the best course of action is…And if we decide it is best not to inform her of what you've learned, I would only ask you to say nothing at this time… Which you have said was in fact William's request…"

"I think I should tell her…"

"That could be the best thing…But I ask you, Andrew, to consider carefully the consequences…"

"You've nearly got her to trust you…Now you want to keep this from her?..."

"Hardly trust, Andrew…She tolerates us because we're useful to her… Believe me, she does not trust us…"

"With respect, Mr. Chairman…I'd say with reason…"

"Perhaps…But our mission, Wells, is more than seeing that Mr. and Mrs. Walthrop find happiness…"

"You won't get Buffy back by lying to Cicely…"

"I'm well aware of that, Wells…But even Buffy can't be my sole concern here…Now, you say you think it's best to tell her…Give me your reasons…"

"She'd kill us all if I don't…Or maybe herself, if she doesn't learn he's ok…"

"Possibly…But if we are wrong to oppose her, it might be for the best… You see that I am open to all the alternatives…What else…?"

"If she learns the truth and turns on us…The Slayers will back her…Maybe a lot of the Counselors…"

"Again, possible…And again, perhaps for the best…"

"She'd be grateful…And we'd have Spike back, fighting with us…"

"She might…Walthrop would be an asset of course, but he would also be a liability…One more responsibility for Buffy to bear, protecting him… And she would have one more vulnerability, a serious one if her enemies played on her fears for him…"

"Mr. Giles, he's her husband…"

"Mr. Wells, part of being a member of this organization is understanding that sometimes individuals must make sacrifices…I agree that's a cruel way to look at things but we face brutal and utterly unfeeling enemies…Our mission…The Slayers' mission…Is to protect Humanity's continued existence…Humanity, Mr. Wells…Not individual humans…"

"Protect Humanity the same way we did in 1880?..."

"I hope not, Mr. Wells…" impassively… "But have you anything else?..."

"Not telling her is what Simon Farris would have done…" Andrew said, quietly…

"For his own reasons…But I don't deny the Council's viewpoint at times matched his…I am not Farris reborn, Mr. Wells…Cicely seems confident of that and I assure you she is right…"

"No, but you're the same guys who agreed to murder her in 1880…"

"And perhaps, at the time…For the sake of Humanity…That was the right decision…" Giles said, coolly…

"And if I go ahead and tell her…?"

"Andrew…What exactly did William say as to his reasons for not coming back with you?..."

"He just asked me not to say anything…Leave things to him…"

"And you don't think you ought to respect his wishes…"

"Sir, he has no idea what's happened to Buffy…That his wife has returned…And his daughter been found…"

Giles sighed, leaning back…

"All right…Wells, lets be frank with each other…I could threaten you but as I've said, truly…There's no way to be certain what the correct course of action is here…Given William's own request, can you do this much?…Wait for the moment and give him a chance to make his own decision…And for us to review our options…"

"I won't lie to her…" Andrew hesitated…

"But since he did ask me to keep quiet…For now, I won't tell her...But… I want to tell Dawn…She deserves to know and I want someone else besides me to know…"

Hard stare…Giles nodding…Faint smile…

"You have matured, Mr. Wells…"

Meeting of the full Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists...At the temporary facility in London...

"And what about Angel?..." Willow, standing, addressed Andrew as he stood somewhat awkwardly at podium, four of the Slayers who'd accompanied him to LA standing by him...

In rather surprisingly intense support...Willow had earlier noted to Buffy, seated by her in the front row...

Our Andrew has won some hearts, me thinks...

Or at least a bevy of maternal types...

"He didn't try to stop us..." Andrew looked at her... "He and his people had taken good care of her, as best they could..."

"Did he ask about Buffy?..."

"Yeah...Yes...I told him she was in Rome..."

"Did he?..." Willow paused... "Had he heard about Cicely?..."

"Not that I could tell..." Andrew shook his head... "He didn't say anything to suggest he did..."

"He didn't wish to call me?...Find out how I am?..." Buffy stood suddenly...

"He asked if you were ok...I said yeah...I got the feeling..." Andrew paused...

"I think some of them had hard feelings over Dr. Burkle..." he explained...

"And when you told him we didn't trust him?..." Buffy asked... "That none of us trusted him so long as he stays with Wolfram-Hart?..."

"He said he understood...We had to do what we had to do; he had to do what he had to do...What was best for his people..."

"What about the physical layout?..." Buffy asked... "Was the building heavily defended?..."

"I got in without too much trouble once I told them who I was...They did have a lot of demons and guards..."

"Magics?...Barriers, that sort of thing?..."

"Nothing that I ran into..."

Willow looked up from her seat at Buffy's intent face...

"And there's nothing else...?" Buffy asked...Calmly...

"It didn't seem like they were up to anything big...Though it's a busy place..."

"I see..." Buffy nodded... "Well...Well done, Andrew...I understand the Slayer is safely moved to a secure institution...?"

"One controlled by us..." Giles cut in from his seat behind Andrew and the four Slayers..

"I'd like to speak with her..." Buffy said...

"If her doctors allow it, certainly...Right now she's catatonic..." Giles replied...

"I know the feeling..." Buffy, wan smile... "Andrew, was there any word on our surviving cyborg team members...Did Angelus...Angel...Mention them...?"

"He didn't...I didn't think it was a good idea to bring them up..."

"Probably right..." Buffy nodded... "But I think we should consider an operation to retrieve them if possible..."

"That would require careful planning..." Giles spoke up again... "We couldn't risk using Slayers..."

"No, certainly..." Buffy nodded... "But we should not abandon them...If any remain alive...There's been enough of that..." she noted... "Thank you, Andrew..." She sat...

Faint clapping from where the cyborg members sat...A few Counselors and Slayers joining in...

Willow patted Buffy's hand...Gasping a bit as Buffy grabbed it suddenly, crushing a bit...

"Sorry..." she whispered, releasing...Continuing to look calmly toward Andrew...

"We will consider all options as to retrieval of our other personnel..." Giles rose... "Any other questions for Mr. Wells?..." He looked round...

"In that case, I thank him for his excellent work and declare this meeting closed...Thank you all..."

"They got him out of the room rather quickly..." Buffy said quietly as she stood with Willow in the hallway outside the meeting room...

"If he knew anything..." Willow began...

"There's something..." Buffy pursed her lips... "I need to speak with him...He wouldn't look straight at me..."

"Andrew never can look straight at anyone..." Willow noted...

"True enough...But...I think I should speak to him in private..."

"At least Angel seems to think you're in Rome...That part is working..." Willow tried to shift gears...

"Yes...But why not call me there?...Especially after Andrew's little pronouncement?...If he 'loved' me so much, why wouldn't he try to explain himself to me?...Don't you find that strange, Willow?..."

"Maybe he's ashamed...Embarrassed..."

"I thought he'd insisted he had nothing to apologize for...That he'd made the best decision he could for himself and company...Why no angry call insisting on his innocence?..."

"I don't know, Buf..."

"Ms. Summers?..." hesitant voice...

"Hey, Gretchen..." Willow smiled at the somewhat blank face before...Humanized a hair by the brunette wig and a touch of make-up...Two other cyborg members, likewise attempting a bit more natural appearance by her side...

"Ve wanted to say how much..." Gretchen blinked... "Ve app..." She paused...A tear running...

"We won't leave them there..." Buffy eyed her... "I won't let them be abandoned, if I have to go it and get them myself..." She put an arm round the cyborg...Hugging her...

"You mustn't risk it, Ms. Summers..." the male of the three insisted... "We're ready to go if Mr. Giles will allow us, but he's right...The Partners mustn't learn our team was sent by the Council..."

"The Council always has handy excuses for leaving its warriors to their fates..." Buffy, bitterly... "But we'll see what is to be done..." she hugged Gretchen again... "I could always pretend to be one of you, you know...Right, Willow?..." she grinned at Willow...

"Turnabout, fair play...?" She released Gretchen gently...

"Danke...Thank you..." Gretchen nodded...Paused... "If we go...Ve von't leave unless we know...For certain..."

"God bless you..." Buffy said, suddenly...Tears flowing to Willow's shock...

"Fortuna can be beaten, dearest girl..." Gretchen smiled, hugging her... "Ve are the living...More or less...Proof..." She released her...

"Security protocols..." Willow hissed...

"Sorry..." Gretchen, rueful look... "Ms. Summers, again...Thank you..."

The three cyborgs headed off...

"She understands..." Buffy nodded... "I forget sometimes, our story's not the only one of suffering and oomed Fate..."

"Guess so..." Willow nodded... "But they were grateful you remembered the others..."

"I'm sorry, Willow..." Buffy eyed her... "I guess I forget sometimes you've had your own brush with Fate and loss...I suppose everyone must meet the enemy, in their own way..."

"Fortuna and Time, huh?..."

"No, not Time..." Buffy smiled vaguely... "Time's a friend...It took us a while, but we became friends, Time and I...Time's what gave me this chance...Let Will save himself...Brought my daughter back to me...No, Wil...Time's no enemy...But Fortuna...That bitch with the roulette wheel, who loves bringing you right back down...And back again...Time at least plays fair and gives you a chance of changing things..."

"The undiscovered country is the future..." Willow smiled...

"That's exactly what I mean..." Buffy eyed her...

"The wisdom of 'Star Trek'..." Willow mock bowed...

"TV show and movies about..." she began to explain...

"Yes, I saw it with Dawn a few times...Interesting, though I'd thought all they did was lightly banter, fire whatever phasers are, and bed young women from other worlds..."

"A little profundity slips in every now and then..."

"Sounds like what William used to say about Gilbert and Sullivan..." smile...Followed by hard stare...

"I need to speak to Andrew..."

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXXI...

Whoa!...Andrew gasped as the light just clicked on in his room at the Watchers' underground facility revealed two figures standing quietly against his wall...

"Buffy?..." he stared as Buffy eyed him coldly... "Willow?..." he looked at Willow's sheepish face...

"Hey...Andrew, sorry...Buffy just wanted..."

"Goddamn you!..." Buffy shrieked, lunging...A stunned Willow staring a moment as the Slayer lifted Andrew off the floor with one hand around his throat... "You tell me!...Is he dead?...Do they have him?...Damn you, you little fool, tell me!..." shaking him like a rag doll...

"Buffy!..." Willow grabbed at her...And found herself shoved away as Andrew gurgled in her vise grip...Feet dangling...

"You treacherous little..." Buffy, grim, raging stare... "You tell me, now!..." fierce whisper...

"Let him go, Cicely!..Or so help me!..." Willow stood up, arms raised...Buffy eyeing her...Icy look...

"Now, Cicely!..." Willow said, firmly... "Don't make me show you what I can do..."

Buffy looked at the feebly struggling Andrew in her grip...Lowering him to the ground...

"Andy, are you ok?..." Willow, anxiously...He nodded slightly, still held firmly...

"Enough...Tell me right now..." Buffy said...

"Don't, Andy!...If you know anything..." Willow cried...

Buffy whirled on her, raging face...Andrew still in her grip, though held now with a surprisingly light touch...

"I knew you were all in cahoots...Betraying me..." she hissed bitterly... "You're liars, all of you...You knew he was in Los Angeles, alive..."

"We did not know...At least I didn't...And what about the way you've lied to us?...To me?..." Willow replied... "Making us believe you trusted us..."

"Why should I trust you?...Any of you?..." Buffy glared at her... "Your Mr. Giles tried to kill my husband...None of you ever tried to help him...And now, you're keeping him from me..."

"Only from your Mr. Farris, Cicely..." Willow said, quietly...Buffy staring at her...

"I don't know what Andy knows..." she paused... " But if you go rampaging off to LA, he'll know where William is, if he doesn't already...We both know that..."

"He could be..." Buffy regarded Andrew... "I knew Simon would never be so obvious as to take Rupert Giles but he could be..."

"He'd let you know where William was...Help you get there...He'd want you to be there...To suffer..." Willow, insistent... "Whether you trust us or no, you know that's true...This isn't Farris..."

"He knows..." Buffy shook her head... "He learned the truth in Los Angeles, I know it..."

"Then lets ask him..." Willow said, quietly... "And why he wouldn't tell you straight out..."

"I know why..." Buffy said, teeth clenched... "Mr. Giles and his Counselors told him not to...True?..." she addressed Andrew...Who cast a desperate glance to Willow...

"True?..." Buffy repeated...Coldly calm...

"I can't...' Andrew gasped as the vise tightened again a degree...

"Andy?...If you know anything..." Willow said, gently... "Stop, Cicely...He can't speak..."

Buffy loosened grip...

"Well?..."

"I can't..." he repeated...Somewhat shaken but firmly now...

"I'm sorry..."

He looked over to Willow...Who gave a reassuring but guarded look...Mingled with a bit of admiration...

Never thought Andrew Wells...

"I would if I could...But..."

"Mr. Giles?..." Buffy eyed him... "I can protect you, Andrew..."

"You could be Farris..." Andrew replied...She staring at him...

"He could be here, in you..." he explained...

She looked at Willow...Who looked at Andrew...Andy?...

"He was studying in reincarnation and possession when Henry Foxcroft killed him, Cicely..." Andrew caught his breath as Buffy continued to stare... "Henry left a report with the Council...Farris knew you'd be returning for William...He hoped to block you any way he could, even researched taking your new body...His spell notes were clear about that..."

Willow blinked...

"No...You're lying..." Buffy shook her head... "I know Simon, I'd know his presence in me..."

"Maybe...But do you wanna take the chance?...If he is in you, he already knows too much..."

"Nonsense..." Uncertainly...

"Maybe..." Andrew stared back at her... "Can you take that chance?..."

"You were going to keep the truth from me...You or Willow could be him..."

"We've been checked...Your reincarnation aura could mask him...Ask Willow..."

"Willow?..." she glanced over to where Willow was staring at Andrew...

Andrew Wells, you little poker-faced...Vague smile of admiration...

Mingled with a degree of annoyed frustration...You and Giles kept me out of all this?...

"It could be, Buffy..." she nodded, considering... "Let me..."

"Giles gave you this information?..." Buffy asked Andrew...He nodding...

"And suspects...Me?..."

"You're not the only one with suspicions, Cicely..." he replied... "But I think you'd've killed me or tried to by now if he were in you...But it's best, don't you think?...To keep anything I know or don't know a secret?..."

"He is in Los Angeles, isn't he?..." she eyed him...

"Don't make me say anything more about it...For his and your sake..."

"And what?...Wait for Farris, Angelus, the Partners, or Giles to kill him?..." she shook her head...

"I can tell you..." Andrew began... "That something big is going on in LA...But it's too early to go in now and disrupt that..."

"He's in danger then...Thank you, Mr. Wells, I'll be leaving now..." But she eyed him, hesitant...

"Andrew, I can't sit here any longer, unable to do anything..." she said, suddenly... "Please..."

"If you go to LA there's a good chance you might do more harm than good...And wherever William is, if he is on Earth, whether or not Farris is involved, if you threaten the Partners or they think you are threatening them, he could suffer..." Andrew insisted...

"I don't care about your operation...Whatever Mr. Giles and Angelus are up to..." Buffy frowned... "I want my husband back safe now...Either get me to him or him to me or so help me...I'll expose Angelus to the Partners in exchange for him..."

Andrew eyed Willow...Buffy sighed...

"I'm not a fool, Andrew...I could see Mr. Giles had a better reason for not allowing us to contact Angelus, for refusing to listen to any pleas that he might be reasoned with, than simple revenge...That abortive mission by the cyborgs didn't deceive me for a moment..."

What?...Willow blinked...

"It made perfect sense that the Council was cooperating with Angelus to destroy the Partners...I did believe you as to his souled nature, you see...Hell, I've seen souled vampires before now, God knows...And it was easy to guess the Council's intentions...The new Slayers mean the likely end of the line when the last one dies...They have only a few dozen years at best now to eliminate the remaining demonic threats to Earth and Humanity...Right, then...Willow, you'll scan me for any trace of Simon, then teleport me to Los Angeles...Willow?..."

"Angel's...?"

"Yes, true blue, or whatever you people say nowadays...Hardly surprising he'd be so willing to take on the Partners, given his famous ego...The motivations may have changed to the good but it's still the same Angelus...Eh, Mr. Wells?...It was all a lie, wasn't it?..."

"Cicely, please..." Andrew begged... "I can't talk about this...Except to say that if you go and they catch you...Or even just detect your presence..."

"Willow will keep me hidden..."

"Wait a mo, Cicely..." Willow frowned... "First of all, I'm not your magical genie...Second, thanks for the confidence but I don't know if I could handle the Partners' magics...Third..." she raised a hand...

"I've magics protection, Willow..." Buffy smiled thinly... "If you were thinking along those lines...Henri's bag contained a few things I didn't mention in Rome..." she gave an arch look...

"Ok..." Willow put her hand down... "I was only going to calm you down a little...So we could figure things out..."

"No need...I am quite calm, now...I know Will is alive and in Los Angeles...I know I was right about the Council and Angelus' plan..."

Buffy grinned a bit wanly... "Sorry, Andrew...I had to know...I won't press you for more right now...And you didn't actually tell me anything I didn't already know...Just confirmed it..."

Andrew sighed...Glance to Willow who gave a sympathetic look...

"And your information about Simon's activities is useful...Not to mention your warning...All right...Guys...You both feel I should wait...I know I can't...What shall we do then, eh?..."

"Cicely..." Willow said quietly... "You told me before you'd waited over a hundred years and you could wait longer...To be sure all was right this time..."

"I have...I am..." Buffy nodded... "But I believe he'll be safer with me, in my care...And...God, Willow..." voice so firm a moment before, cracking now... "I haven't held him in my arms since that night...I have to have him with me again...Wipe the memory..." she paused...

"Of Buffy away?..." Willow eyed her...

"I've never said I wasn't a jealous wife and lover..." Buffy, cool stare, bitter... "Dawn is quite aware how much...Yes, I want to purge her face, her touch, everything about Buffy Summers from his mind...He's my husband...My only lover...That empty-headed Yank girl with her brace of lovers living and dead..." she looked at her hands... "And every day, I'm reminded when I look in the mirror..." tears beginning to run, fists clenching... "I won't let it end like this...She can't have my husband...I will not give him up to her..."

"Buffy is my friend...She's not 'empty-headed' or some kind of husband- stealing bimbo...William chased her, not vice-versa..." Willow replied... "And she gave him what he needed to free himself...While you were off, wherever...Afraid to face him...Even now, for all your talk, you've taken your own sweet time about going after him...You're afraid it'll be Buffy he sees when he sees you...Not Cicely, the woman who..."

Buffy tensed as if for a charge...Red-faced with rage...

"No..." Andrew stepped forward... "Don't do this...Buffy, you are Buffy Summers and Cicely Walthrop...There's no breakpoint even if you don't remember Buffy's time...William loves you, not one of you..."

"Did he say so?..." Buffy said, quickly...Rage fading as fast as it had come into her face...

He frowned...

"As you people say, can't blame a girl for trying..." she smiled, ruefully... "Come then...Willow, I'm sorry..." she offered a hand...

"You've been through what I've been through...You know what it can do...I am only human, Miss Rosenberg..."

"Ok..." Willow nodded...Shaking hand a bit stiffly... "So what now?...You want me to scan you?..."

"After we see Rupert..." Buffy shook her head...

"Mr. Giles?..." Andrew, a hair anxious... "You aren't going to tell him..."

"Andrew...My lamb..." Buffy smiled at him... "You have been duped..."

He stared...

"Giles wanted you to...?" Willow blinked...

"I'll make it clear you did a remarkable job, Andrew...I'm sure he expected you to crack immediately...But you never gave a word..."

Buffy beamed...Smile to Willow... "Of course he did, Willow...He just didn't dare let it come out in Council or his office...Either the Partners or Simon could be lurking..."

"Mr. Giles expected me to..." Andrew stared...

"Now, Andrew, I would've been talking in five minutes under the circumstances...You did your duty ably..." Buffy patted him... "Now, we need to get Rupert here, I think...See what his plan for getting me to Los Angeles is...I imagine he wants me to go in incognito...Willow, lets do the scan as soon as Andrew brings him...You may need his help in driving Simon out of me if it's by the remostest chance so..."

"Willow?..."

Willow blinked...A little too much all at once...

"Can we move a bit, people?..." Buffy frowned... "We've a lot to do..."

Conference room C, the underground facility of the Council of Watchers...

"Mr. Giles..." Andrew, sheepishly...

"Young Wells performed admirably, Rupert..." Buffy smiled... "As Willow can testify, he didn't say a word under rather extreme duress...And yet..." she stared at Giles...

"...And yet..." Giles nodded...Roger Wyndham-Price in chair beside him... "You now know..."

"As you wanted me to..." Buffy nodded in turn...

Willow involuntarily sighing...Geesh...

Somebody might've told me...

"Very well..." Giles nodded... "Your husband is alive and for the moment, as far as we know, well..."

Buffy trembled... "Oh, God..." Hands to face... Tears suddenly welling...

"Sir..." Andrew, hesitantly...

Perhaps a faint degree of understandable exasperation giving his near- throttling...

"I'm sure it's all right, Wells..." Giles shook his head... "Buffy, I can only assure you we didn't know for certain until Andrew went to LA...Our contact with Angel had to be extremely limited..."

"I see..." she pulled hands away from her face, reddened a bit... "So you were willing to risk him...Again..."

"I've said we didn't know...And Angel didn't know of you...But frankly, even if we had..."

"Get him out...Or me there...Now..." Buffy said quietly... "I've spared your lives, waiting to hear this...But if anything happens to him now..."

"The Partners are aware of him, Cicely...He's been a pawn in their game...Not at our intent..." Giles eyed her... "I can't say yet exactly what they've been up to but he may well be their bait for you...In any case if you run there now..."

"I've no intention of charging in like a fool, Rupert..." Buffy glared... "I want Willow to bring him out or me to him...If it's me to Los Angeles, I'll do the rest..."

"The operation against the Partners..." Giles began...

"Doesn't mean a rat's arse to me..." Buffy replied... "You and Angelus want to play with your lives and those of your Slayers and comrades, fine...Not with my husband's..."

"The Partners could destroy him long before you'd reach him...Or, if Willow could get you in, trap all of you there..."

"I've bested worse..." she said, disdainfully...

"You'd have one eye on William all the time...They'd exploit that..." Giles noted quietly... "They are probably exploiting it now...And then there is your own nemesis, Dr. Farris..."

"Andrew's told me of your concerns..." she shrugged... "It's not impossible, I agree...Willow will scan me...And all of you again...And I'll be on guard for him in America..."

"If you disrupt this operation, assuming I take it for granted we can't stop you, Cicely..." Giles paused... "The Partners will destroy Angelus and move against us and the Slayer Corps...Even if you rescue William, you and he will also be targets..."

"Surely 10000 Slayers in arms plus your cyborgs..."

"Not enough if the Partners attack with all their force before we're ready...Granted, even then, we might hold them, we might prevent them from corrupting too many of our Slayers and keep them pinned down in stalemate until we lose our ladies to old age and illness ...But is that the kind of world you and William have endured so much for?...Is it what you want to bequeath to your daughter?..."

"My daughter wants her father..."

"Cicely, if we win this last great battle, Demonity is defeated...The Hellmouths will be closed for good... We won't need Slayers, in force or singlely...And you and William will be free..."

She eyed him...Bitter chuckle... "No, there'll always be a need for a killing machine like a Slayer...You'll simply set us on humans..."

"I won't..." Giles said simply... "And whether you believe me or not, without a demonic threat, you and William will be free to live your lives in peace...No one will be able to threaten you..."

"If he survives..." Buffy, calmly...

"It seems right now he's useful to them..." Giles noted... "A counterweight to Angel in some way, we think...Perhaps a test to see if Angel can bear competition..."

"I can't..." Buffy shook her head... "I've told them..." she nodded to Willow and Andrew... "And I'm telling you, Rupert...I can't sit here and hope he endures this as well..."

"Yes..." he nodded... "I know...So, you'll have to see him, won't you?..."

She stared at his smile...


	2. Chapter 2

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse,  
. or direct to story  
at ....

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy  
seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXXII...

"Well?..." Giles eyed his visitor...Hopefully the last of this rather busy day...

"Thanks...For trusting me..." bitter tone...

"It had to be on a need-to-know basis, Willow..." Giles sighed at the Wiccan seated across from him...

"And quite frankly in the best interests of the operation, it was best that you and Xander and Dawn didn't know...And continued your arguments for and against Angel..."

"You trusted Andrew Wells over me..."

"You were a far more likely target of any information-gathering by the Partners than he, Willow..."

"If Cicely saw through it all..."

"Yes, it's possible the Partners have guessed our game...But I think not...They're convinced all Humanity and human-souled creatures are weak and corrupt...They not only want, they need to believe that,  
particularly after their constant defeats over the past 10,000 years...Souled Angel being won over to them is something they desperately want to believe..."

"You trusted Andrew over me, Giles..." Willow repeated...Sighing...

"Willow, I can only tell you we each had a role in this operation...Yours was to stand up for Angel and argue restraint...And you fulfilled it far better than you might have in a mere  
performance..."

"And now what...Cicely's not going to play ball on this one, Giles...She's out to rescue Will, if it means trampling over our dead bodies and handing our souls over to the Partners..."

"I've little doubt of that..."

"Exceptin' she still needs us...For now..."

"For now..." he nodded... "But apart from our usefulness in saving William, I'm not entirely convinced Cicely Walthrop has lost all sense of Duty to Humanity...Or all sense of Buffy's love for her friends..."

"You won't..." she paused... "This plan doesn't include a 'stab Buffy/Cicely in the back' part, does it?...Tell me now, Giles... 'Cause I may hand things over to the Partners myself if I find it does...Are you planning on getting William out of this alive?...Well..." she waved a hand...

"You know what I mean..."

"Everything possible we can do to protect William, we'll do..." he insisted... "This is their best chance to escape their fate, Willow...If we win..."

"Ok..." she nodded... "I'll hold you to that...Rupert..." she eyed him...

"Hey, if Buffy can..." she noted, grinning...

"Minchen, I think was his name " Buffy paused "German fellow But he'd picked up the accent and the slang perfectly, a great actor in his way, really He'd perform anything Dickens, Shakespeare, Goethe, the latest ballad, or just improvise Right there in the street I'd watch him, sometimes with Will, then later, alone I thought he was the greatest talent I'd ever seen His wife would join him on occasion A very pretty creature, really, when she wasn't in the guise of an old woman or some overstuffed great lady harassing the life out of him He never seemed to be acting, Minchen He'd just become the person "

"Musta been something to see " Willow nodded

"She was killed by a horse car…Streetcar pulled by horses…It went right over her without the driver even attempting to stop, the bastard Drunk, maybe Or just didn't like pretty girls married to German street performers Minchen nearly managed to kill him but the crowd pulled him off, then got him out The local police of course had no interest in catching the driver, far more likely to prosecute him...I saw him just once more, in Bath, before I died He was performing with a group, in costume, masked, but I knew it was him He told me he'd come to Bath to find the driver, who'd followed the vacation trade, probably thinking Bath would be safer as well Wasn't sure what he'd do when he found him but he was going to find him He guessed, somehow, that I was on a similar mission...It was he who directed me to the town where, for one brief moment..." she paused... "In a restaurant, going out the door with that...Her..." She put a hand to her face as Willow looked on...Rubbing temple briefly...

"Minchen...First vampire besides Henri I ever spared..." wan smile... "But he proved to me something could survive...That William could still be there...Trapped in that thing I helped Simon create..."

"So..." Willow eyed her... "That's why you've been waiting...For your old Watcher to show himself?...This is a hunt?..."

"Not simply for revenge...I wasn't deceiving you people...I wasn't absolutely sure William was still here or where he was until poor Andrew's return...But after Rome I knew Simon was here...And now that  
I know Will is safe, for the present, well..."

"...We'll never be free while Simon seeks to destroy us...Wherever and whoever he is, now..."

"I understand...But..."

"You've every right to anger, Miss Rosenberg..."

"I'm not...Should be I guess, but..."

"Ever since Mr. Wells told us of his and Giles' fears, the fear has grown in me...I have to know, once and for all...And before I go to Los Angeles..."

"And if you are Farris...I mean, if he is in there..."

"Then one of us will be dead before we leave this room..." Buffy eyed her... "I wish this could have been done voluntarily, but I hope you know the real threat of death had to be here...Nothing else would bring Simon..."

The phone on the desk in the conference room where the two now sat rang...Willow glanced at Buffy who nodded...

"Hey, Andy..." she spoke calmly... "Yeah, we're delayed...Yes, I got Farris' letter box..." she eyed a box on the table... "But Buffy's got me locked in room 2113...She wants the test done under kinda extreme  
conditions..."

"May I?..." Buffy asked, politely...Stake in right hand... Reaching for phone...Which Willow handed over...

"Andrew?...Oh, hello, Rupert...No, we're not joining you...This test has to be done alone...I can't risk Simon concealing himself in me successfully...This one has for full stakes...To the death or life..."

"He wants to speak to you..." she handed the phone back... "Tell him my little bag of charms from Henri is blocking teleportation...Out or in..."

"He says he heard...Giles?...She wants it flat-out...Either I kill Farris in her or he kills me first...Considering he's a survivalist type and pretty good at magics, he'll probably go for it, if he is with her...No, I did not volunteer..." eyeing Buffy, smile which was returned... "She grabbed me after we picked up the Farris letters at the archives this morning...But...I guess I'm willing to go ahead...I think I owe Buffy and William at least that much...No, Giles...Look, just keep your big guns, Slayer and magic, in place to catch this guy  
if he is here...I mean it, Giles...Between us, we'll know if you try anything...Just let us handle this one, ok?..." she hung up...

"Thank you..." Buffy, quietly...

"I said I owe Buffy and William...Not you, Cicely..." Willow replied... "But I understand...You ready?..."

"Yes...Willow, don't hold back if you feel anything...You may only have a second to kill me before he kills you..."

"Sure..." Willow nodded curtly...

"And if you do...Find him and tell him...I will see him safe in Heaven..."

"Right...Don't move or I may jump the gun..." the Wiccan frowned...Opening the box and pulling a faded letter out with one hand while keeping steady eye on Buffy with the other...

"Serve him right to die in a dress..." Buffy smiled...

"And that hat..." Willow noted, nodding at the large, flower-draped hat... The letter flamed in her hand even as Buffy gave a wry smile, and at the flaming, started...

"Looks like I don't have try to kill you..." Willow said, quietly, eyeing the drifting ashes... "Even if I might want to, a little..."

"I see..." Buffy put the stake in a pocket of her skirt and looked at her hands... "Willow, I had to..."

"We've a deal, Cicely...And I will hold you to it...It's the only reason I don't spell you out and hand you over to Giles right now..."

"I know..." she said, calmly... "But at least let me thank you for freeing me from that nightmare..."

"Sure...You're welcome, Mrs. W...Now lets go join the guys and get cracking..."

"He's still out there..."

"Yeah, I get that...But at least he can't be with William in that demon body...Only Will's soul can hold up there..."

"Yes, that's true...Well, shall we?..."

"I will hold you to it, Cicely..." Willow repeated, quietly...

"And I will keep my word..." Buffy nodded...

"I hope you realize how close I am to ending this operation and having you locked away, Mrs. Walthrop..." Giles said calmly to Buffy as she and Willow entered the room where he, Roger, and Andrew and seven  
Slayers, plus various Council members, human and cyborg, waited...

"Now you know how I felt, Rupert..." she replied... "Perhaps it's a basis for real trust between us at last..."

"Was there really need to...?"

"Yes..." she nodded... "There was need to endanger poor Miss Rosenberg...At least from my point of view..."

"It's all right, Giles..." Willow put up a hand... "We cleared things up, lets move on...What's the plan regarding LA?..."

"These people have all been cleared?..." Buffy asked...

"Thoroughly..." Giles nodded... "But if you're not satisfied you may proceed without any further help from us..." slight clenching of teeth as Willow looked at him...Roger and Andrew as well...The others slightly removed, yet aware of the tension...

"I am quite satisfied...It was only the danger of his being able conceal himself in me more completely given my reincarnation..."

"Fine, we shall proceed then..." he rose, raising voice..."Ladies and gentlemen, it will be of crucial importance that no word of Mrs. Walthrop's return to America gets out...Not even the most trusted member of Angel's team, nor Angel himself is to be informed...This is as much for their protection as Mr. Walthrop's...Mrs. Walthrop, who never to your knowledge emerged, has peacefully returned to her grave and Buffy Summers is in Rome, with the Immortal and Dawn, shortly to be rejoined by Mr. Wells as her Watcher...Since that part of the story concerning Ms. Summers in Rome is already well-established, we should have no trouble continuing it..."

"But if one of us were to be captured...And the Partners indicate they know Cicely has returned..." a cyborg asked carefully... "We confess to knowing Cicely made an appearance but departed on failing to find proof of William's continued existence...That Rome Buffy is with the Immortal because of that re-established connection?..."

"No one is to be deliberately 'captured'…" Buffy cut in… "I want that clearly understood…"

"Yes…" Giles nodded… "But as to details, you have it right, Franklin…Though if the Partners know nothing of Cicely's return, that information should not be volunteered except under extreme duress…"

"I want no sacrifices…" Buffy insisted…

"This is merely a course to follow should the Partners become more aggressive in seeking intelligence…" Giles countered… "No one will be sacrificing themselves…Except you, Cicely…"

"Not I, Mr. Chairman…" Buffy, thin smile… "I've not come from the grave, what?...Four times now?...Simply to make a romantic gesture…No, I mean to live to enjoy my retirement with my husband…If Fate necessities a fifth return, so be it…But this will not be a foolhardy laying of myself upon the altar…"

"And if you should be taken in Los Angeles…?" Roger spoke up, suddenly… "Is it the time to endanger this operation with a foolhardy exercise that's likely to find you and your husband dead or in the grip of the Partners?...There are, after all, more lives at stake here than your own, Mrs. Walthrop…"

"I'm sorry, Doctor…I will do my best not to endanger your boy…" she replied evenly… "But you people can either provide me with assistance and let me go under your council, or I can proceed alone…I will go to Los Angeles and find William regardless…"

"Enough…" Giles moved in, causing Roger and Buffy to break their mutual stare… "We've agreed to assist Mrs. Walthrop; she's agreed to follow our direction and minimize danger to the operation against the Partners…Lets focus on the mission at hand…"

"What about Dr. Farris?..." Andrew asked… "Now we know he's not with Buffy or any of us, he must be around somewhere, waiting…"

"The good doctor will show his hand when he feels it suits him…" Giles shook his head… "We'll allow for his interference, certainly but worrying about a factor we can't control is pointless…"

"Simon believed in the utilization of minimum effort to achieve a goal… Less disruptive and less likely to affect other matters of value…" Buffy noted… "While I imagine he's tried to lay groundwork he'll wait where-and who-ever he is until he's sure that effort will have the best chance of success…"

"Yes…All right…We will send a support team of six cyborgs in human form…Reasonable as the Partners know we monitor Angel and themselves at Wolfram-Hart and would expect us to have agents deployed…Ms. Rosenberg and Mrs. Walthrop of course are another matter…We've considered glam shielding to disguise them but there are too many occult experts and security spells in place at Wolfram-Hart to make that a safe choice…Therefore we must proceed in a more traditional way…"

"Makeover time…" Willow grinned… "I always wanted to try blonde…"

"It will be something of a relief to return to my own hair color…" Buffy beamed… "Why Ms. Summers insisted on this artificial color, I cannot understand…"

"What?..." she stared at Giles and Andrew…Willow giving a non-committal look…I never asked her outright but it sure wasn't hard to tell… "You mean to say you didn't know?...Look at these roots…" she parted her hair a bit… "See?...Rather nice to know my reincarnate and I share at least some physical attributes…Well, we should be about our business…Time is of the essence as always, people…"

I gotta send a picture to Xander when they've finished…Willow thought…Heading out after Buffy…

"We're dead if this gets out and Buffy comes back, aren't we?..." Andrew whispered to Giles as Willow and Buffy headed for the wardrobe office where a team awaited them…

"Oh, yes…" Giles nodded…

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXXIII...

Rome

Apartment of Dawn, "Buffy", and their temporary roomie...

Currently engaged in the last scene of the performance of a lifetime...

Though having been ably supported by a costar who, despite a lack of cues or joint rehearsal time, was handling the scene with equal aplomb...

Of course, Andrew reflected, for the fifth time reminding his accompanying Slayers in Training Angela and Seth of the importance of saying nothing to the departing, sorrowful William ...Angel probably didn't know much more than Will about the real sit... Though surely Giles had warned him in some way, at the very least, that there should be no personal contact with "Buffy" and no attempt on the Immortal...

The girls were frowning at him, he noticed Their powerful Buffy passed memories of poor Will pressing He tugged at his tuxedo collar...

"It's terrible... " Angela hissed "Why couldn't we tell him?..."

"Those are our orders from the Chairman And Mrs. W... Security... " Andrew replied "And if she's ok with it, we should be "

"Ok with it?...If she knew, she'd never let him leave that way...The look on his face... " Seth sighed mournfully... Shaking her blonde tresses... "Andrew, we're killing him all over again ..."

"Yeah... " Angela glared... "If she were here, Cicely wouldn't hesitate... "

"There are good reasons, ladies... " Andy shook his head... "His life and hers and many others depend on keeping the secret... " He eyed the girls...

"Please... " he said, simply... "You know I'm on her side... Their side... But I swear it's not the right time... And he would be in danger as much as she Probably more so... "

Angela eyed Seth, Seth shrugged... "Ok... "

"But I want to be there in LA when things get hairy... " Angela noted...

"Likewise... " Seth nodded, firmly... Then smiled at the wry nod from Andrew... Me, too... I hope... he noted...

"So, we're supposed to be hitting the town, right?..." she asked... "With our own Jamie Bond?..." she patted his arm fondly, then put hers through his...

"Lets paint this Eternal City... " Angela, grinning, taking the other arm...

It's a tough job, but Andrew thought... Letting himself be wafted off to the waiting limo...

"Andrew?..." Seth nudged him... "Shouldn't you at least be making a call first?..."

Hmmn... ?

"Mrs. Walthrop might like to hear about her husband's trip to Italy?..." she suggested...

Oh, right...

Angela, arch smile to Seth... Our beloved Watcher is not quite as impervious to our charms as seemed...

Always knew he had it in him...

"Well?..." Dawn looked at the cell phone in her hand...

"Xander?..."

Faint, long sigh from phone...

"You think it's a bad idea?..." she asked...

"I thought Buffy being a Slayer was a bad idea, to be frank... " the reply came... "This one, is just the latest in a long line... "

"My dad's alive, Xander... Are you saying you still think we can't trust him?..."

"Not your dad... " slight choaking catch on the "dad"... "I don't trust... "

"Mom only wants to find him... Or do you mean someone else?...That guy, her Watcher?..."

"Dawn " another sigh...

"Should I go?...She'd be pissed but if you think... ?"

"No..." firmly "You stay in Italy... Damnit, why didn't Giles tell me, before I left... ?"

"Don't think he knew till Andy came back... At least that's what he says ..."

"If I find out he deliberately let her find out... To get her to LA to fight those bastards... "

Dawn, gulping a bit... What?...

"Xander?...You think Giles?...Why would he do that?..."

"Dawn, I don't know anymore... I don't know either of them anymore... Willow is with her?..."

"Yeah And a Council team... Xander, she'd have gone to LA if Giles asked her to fight... She wanted to before, to find Dru and Angel and well... He wouldn't have had to trick her into going... "

"I suppose... But why did the Partners keep William alive?...There's something going on here, Dawn... Something I don't like... "

"My dad's not working for the Partners, Xander... Andrew said he was keeping a little clear of Angel... " tight grip on phone...

"I'm sure he's not, Dawn ...Dawn, I'm sorry about what I said about…I wasn't thinking…" pause… "As An would say, you know me…Anyway, I'm sure he's still up and kicking…"

"He was here... " her voice trembling ..."Just five days ago, he was here... Worried about her and Andy had to send him and Angel packing... Told them she was with the Immortal now... All for this stupid plan of Giles' and Angel's... Mom was ready to teleport to his plane or him from it, but Willow wouldn't risk it... Xander, this little game here has my dad thinking Mom's with another guy... Again... And if I'd just been... "

"What did Buffy...Cicely... " he corrected "Say?..."

"At first?...I never knew she knew words like that... At least a properly bred English dame... You could feel poor Andy dissolving without hearing a word on his end... But finally she accepted he'd done the right thing... He reminded her Dad and Angel were probably monitored every second in Rome in case they made contact with her... Even a rescue teleport might have been blocked And she knew it might happen, probably would with a high profile "Buffy" in Rome...Still, she's more committed to the plan than ever now Moved up the LA trip and left this morning... "

Plan... He thought, frowning at his phone... Glancing round his sparse office at Nairobi's Hall of Antiquarians... Granted him with all due ceremony on his arrival, left to his use as he pleased, whenever he should wish to come by and assist in Slayer training as his other work allowed...

Months and months Giles had this damned scheme going on behind the scenes... Sacrificing both that poor Winifred and Angel's rep and that cyborgs team...

And maybe a lot more...

"And Giles had no problem with that?..."

"I guess…" Dawn, hesitant… "Xander?..."

That bastard... That scheming bastard... He promised me he'd be up front with them And he's not played straight with her or any of us since...

...ever,,,

"Xander... ?"

"Dawnie, promise me you'll sit tight?...Wait till I get there, at least?..."

"You're coming ?" brightening tone...

"Yeah... But only if you promise to be there... Meet me at Rome Airport?..."

"I will " Dawn breathed, not fully realizing the tone in her voice...

He hesitated...

My God Cicely does know her daughter...

An...C'mon...You know I'm not taking it seriously...But a one-eyed lonely guy can use a little adoration now and then...he smiled a brief second then frowned at the phone, a somewhat worn 60's style corded...

"And, Dawn?... I think it would be best to keep my coming from Andy for now Please?..."

"Really?...If you're sure ?" worry now the dominant tone...

"It's not that I don't trust Andy... "

"So…Xander, you're not fooling me?...You're not going on to LA?... "

"Dawn…?"

"Sorry…" sigh… "After everything that's been going on, do you blame me?...So, we're going to England?..."

Emphasis on that "we" he noted...Watch it, buster...As An would say...

"You and I are going on to England…Right now I think we need to speak to Chairman Giles close up and personal... "

Office of the Chairman of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists, London...

Magda at her desk frowning at the decibel level coming from the inner office...

Getting dangerously close to a need for a bit of stick, she thought…Eyeing said stick beside her desk…

"You knew William was in LA as soon as Angel did...You wanted him there so Cicely would go if you needed her to... " Xander glared at a sedate Giles, seated behind his desk, staring back quite calmly... "It's why you asked Angel to do this in the first place, you thought then Buffy would go for his sake... You're not protecting her, you never have been... You've been holding her in reverse in case things got hairy... "

"Reserve..." Dawn hissed...

"Right, reserve...And you were..." Xander, visibly upset...

"I wouldn't have stopped William from coming to her once he corporealized... " Giles shook his head...

"You..." Dawn, clenching fists... "You put my dad in this again... You put my mother at risk... You liar, you murderer... I don't care what Willow's spell says, you're the one... The one who... "

"No, Dawn... " Giles said quietly... "I may be as ruthless as Xander is implying but I'm not Dr. Farris... For your mother's sake you mustn't let yourself be fooled that way... "

"Goddamn you, why should I listen to you at all?...Mother was right to warn me not to trust you " she fumed "Xander?..." she turned to him "Lets get outta here... We have a plane to catch for LA... "

"Why, Giles... ?" Xander eyed him...

"Because, Mr. Harris... " Roger's voice, in grimly sarcastic tone, he eyeing Giles... "No single life, or lives, is worth the survival of our beloved Humanity... "

Giles sighed...

"Xander, the defeat of the First came at a colossal price... Our Slayers are the last of the line... There will be no more Slayers after them... We've established that and it cannot be reversed... "

"Good... " Dawn said, firmly...

"Not necessarily..." Giles eyed her... "If we don't drive the worst of Demonity... The Partners and all their crew From Earth now, while we have the strength and seal all the demonic portals to Earth... We never will And we can't hold them in the ancient stalemate without Slayers... They will overrun Earth... And reduce Humanity to feed stock and slaves... "

"Cicely was aware of that... Why didn't you just ask her?...You know she'd do it... Especially to save Will... "

"To save William... Exactly... " Giles said, carefully... "And once she finds and saves him... What then... ?"

"You didn't think she'd lead the Slayers against the Partners... Knowing what Cicely thinks of the Council... " Dawn said... "You thought she'd do, just what she's doing... Go for Dad and get him out... So you deliberately set it up that way... Only you waited until Angel was ready to move so she'd have to fight it out with them... "

"And defeat them... As she will... " he noted...

"You've never given a damn about my mother... As Buffy Summers or Cicely Walthrop... " Dawn continued...

"If that were true... " Roger cut in... "He'd have killed her the day Cicely re emerged, Ms. Summers... Be fair to him... He'll only kill her if all other options are exhausted... "

Giles, turning, looked at his colleague a long moment... Roger staring back, imperturbable...

"You're dealing with a Rathskellar, not a Farris, Dawn... " Roger concluded... "Whether that's worse on a moral scale... To sanction such acts while fully aware of the immorality of them... As opposed to Farris' blinding desire and ambition... Is your choice... Not that I, a man who has sacrificed his only son to the same cause, have any claim to judgment here... "

"Whatever the two of you... Or Buffy for that matter... Now believe... " Giles said quietly "I have loved Buffy Summers as a daughter and would willingly die for her or to protect her... I honestly believe that she will never have the peace she deserves... As Buffy Summers or Cicely Walthrop unless and until the final battle is won and Demonity is driven from this planet... "

"And what about the victims?..." Xander spoke up... "You've lied to us about that as well... You told Buffy nothing could be done for them, for the innocents who were taken as vamps... But that's not true and never was... "

"A Slayer who spends her life trying to help the Undead will end up, inevitably, one of them, Xander... "

"A Slayer can't help them... But you could've... " Dawn noted... "You knew about the curse, you probably knew about the African demon protecting the soul well,,, And that spell Angel's company used to bring back Darla's soul... These people could be saved... "

"One or two, perhaps a few more... At enormous cost... And to what end?...To be reborn with knowledge of the acts of their demon?...Dragged from Heaven or Limbo back to a world where everyone who they ever loved or loved them is dead and gone, often centuries ago, trapped immortality?...Do you think Drusilla's soul would appreciate returning in that foul body?..."

"Angel and my father have dealt... Pretty well, I might add... " Dawn shook her head... "And you didn't mind creating a small army of cyborgs with human souls... Or was that only cause you couldn't control them without souls?..."

"Dawn, there have been thousands of Slayers killed over the years and thousands of Watchers, many of whom died with or trying to help their Slayers... Should we ignore their sacrifices to allow your mother and father a few years on Earth?...Should we throw away a chance to bring Humanity freedom from a terrible menace, a menace that at best would destroy us all, and at best cripples and enslaves us... ?"

"You never gave my mother a choice... Never... "

"None of us has a choice, Dawn... " Giles shook his head... "None of us... Except which side we choose... The sidelines are not an option... "

"She never chose the sidelines... But she wanted the freedom to fight on her own... "

"And we can't allow her that freedom, sorry... " Giles said, quietly... "Any more than I can allow my best friend to save the son he loves from terrible danger and almost certain death... "

"You gave Angel a choice... " she insisted... "He could've said no... "

"I knew he wouldn't... Not with Connor's happiness and sanity on the line... Your parents are free to kill me or destroy this organization, if they so choose after the battle's won, Dawn I couldn't stop them if I wanted to... But the battle will have to be fought and won first, by them and by us... "

"Lets go, Xander... " Dawn said, abruptly... "We've things to do in LA... "

She paused, without looking at Giles... "If my parents are gone, Giles I'll kill you myself... "

"I understand... " he said... "Goodbye, Ms. Summers... Take care of her, Xander... "

Xander eyed him briefly and turned to follow Dawn...

"Well done, Mr. Chairman... " Roger said, staring at him...

LA... One week later...

"Ah... " Buffy sighed, brushing brunette hair back and smoothing her red blouse... Conservative but not overly so...

Anyway at least no giant hat, Willow thought with relief...

Buffy, frowning at the length of her skirt... Shrugging at Willow's look... "You know I'll never be comfortable in these lewd things I thought you said that this would be a modest outfit... "

I know I know... She waved at Willow's sigh... "For this benighted era... Half naked is modest... Anyway, what a pleasure to finally be nearly back to my own color... " Buffy noted... Eyeing herself in a pocket mirror... "Even if it's meant as a deception... Frankly, the blonde never suited me... But, even with the eyeglasses, you really think it's difficult to recognize me?... Buffy, I mean?..."

"Trust me... " Willow nodded... Eyeing the small brunette in blouse and skirt with eyeglasses perched on nose before her seated across the café table... The most conservative of conservative businesswomen... One might even consider her as on the verge of librarian chic...

Willow couldn't help desperately suppressing a smile...

My pal Buffy striving to look... Well, like me... Without even some kind of spell or mind control...

"Not even William will recognize you... "

Buffy smiled wanly... Shaking head... No, Willow...

"William will recognize me... I know he will... " slight nervous turn away...

"Just rather wish... It would be me he'll recognize... " she said, quietly...

"Maybe he already has... " Willow patted her gently... "Maybe he always did... "

"I live in hope of that... " Buffy eyed her... Slight smile... "Not because women were fools in my day, you know... But because... "

"Because you loved him and you can't and won't let him go... Even to your own other self... Cicely... " Willow sighed... "I know the feeling sweetie, believe me... "

"And, I'm sorry... " she eyed her...

Buffy nodding... Yes...

"Well, lets go discover America... Thank God at least I can make use of proper pronunciation in this guise... "

"Totally " Willow slipped on sunglasses... Eyeing herself in the mirror... Whoa... A blonde, tanned Willow in bikini top and shorts... Buffy frowning at her...

"Ok?..." Willow eyed her...

"Oh, yes... " dryly... "You look quite the frivolous French prostitute... "

"Just the effect I'm aimin' for... Thanks " grin... "Though now we would say 'blonde airhead'... "

"Somehow it just doesn't suit you... " Buffy frowned "No... " she put up a hand to Willow's anxious look... " I don't mean it's not a fine disguise, it is... It just isn't you... "

"Thanks... " Willow gave her a warm smile and a pat... "Really, I mean that... And it is something Buffy would have said... "

Buffy smiling back... "Then I'm glad I did... " Frown at mirror in hand... "Rather wish I'd not listened on cutting my hair... Miss Summers' old style was short enough... I had such lovely tresses, once, Willow... What's William going to say when he sees I've gone and cut them off... ?"

"He's gotten used to the shorter hair, I think, Cicely... "

"Not on me, though... " she shook her head, closing compact...

"I think getting his wife and daughter back will compensate... " Willow smiled... "And we could always find you a decent wig... "

"First order of business after the mission is accomplished... " Buffy noted... "And now... " she rose from her seat in the café she and Willow had been sitting, sipping coffee and tea, while observing the colossal structure of the Wolfram Hart Tower across the street...

" We go... And... " she stared across the street... Hands tense and clenching...

"No chargin' in, Cicely... " Willow hastily insisted... "He could be in there but he might not... They're too well shielded for me to risk a probe... And either way he's... Cicely?..."

She eyed Buffy as the Slayer bent over and suddenly...Released the contents of lunch...

"Sorry... " a wan faced Buffy sat back down...

"You ok?..." Willow looked round, carefully noting the cautious looks of support from several agents seated round or on the street... Two cyborgs in glam, three human Watchers... The twenty five home based LA Slayers kept well back to limit the need for aural dampening... One Slayer and one wiccan, ok with the skilled masking the Council had provided... A horde of Slayers, sticking out like a sore invisible thumb to Wolfram Hart's occult security... And WH likely kept careful track of a number they'd detected since activation...

"Nerves... " Buffy replied... "Just a touch of nerves... " She looked at Willow... "He actually could be in there... "

"After 120 plus years, I think I get it... " Willow smiled... "After all, you guys didn't even have a proper honeymoon... "

"Oh, no... Not Will... " Buffy shook her head... "He's not in there, not right now... Occult shielding or no I'd sense him... I mean that egotistical jackass risking my husband's life and the lives of his dearest friends on this insane crusade... And for the Council, no less... "

Willow stared... "But the Council asked Angel... He did it for Connor... You heard Giles' report... "

"He couldn't wait to accept, I've no doubt... Well, lets not waste time... We're ready... Lets go and beard the lion's den and shake some answers out of my soulful ex lover... Or his people... "

"Buffy... "

"No chargin' I got that... " Buffy waved a hand... "But you already said they give public tours of the building... And we've as much right to see the place as any other good citizen... Come I'm sure Mr. Angel is the sort of friendly manager who'll spare a little time for visiting tourists with questions... " They rose and crossed, cautiously…

At the door, employees, clients of various fry, tourists, streaming out…A guard stopped them..

"We're closing early, ladies…" she insisted, firmly… "Try tomorrow…"

"But…" Buffy put on an innocent, wide-eyed look that Willow blinked at…

"…We have an appointment with Mr. Angel, himself…"

"Mr. Angel has left the building, ma'am…Try calling his secretary to reschedule…"

"Is something wrong?...Has the gas…er electricity…" Buffy corrected… "Gone amiss?..."

"I've no information on that, ma'am…" the blonde guard shook her head firmly…

Whoa... Willow gasped...

"Willow?...I didn't know you'd had experience with horses... " Buffy stared at her...

"What?...No... " Willow shook head... "I mean, look... "

"Look where?..."

"The blonde just out the front door with the umbrella makin' for that cab... Not even waiting to be picked up at the door... Harmony's gotta be up to something... "

"Is that... ?"

"Angel's secretary, Wolfram Hart's spy, killer vampire, our ex classmate... Yeah... " Willow hurriedly replied... "If we could get her... "

"Buffy?..." she stared as Buffy raced across the street Arriving too late as the cab sped away...

"Damnation!..." Buffy cried... Stamping foot on the ground hard enough that several bystanders looked round in confusion...

The Big One for LA, now?...

"Mind that language and get in... " Willow called from the cab she'd just hired...

"My apologies... Quick thinking, girl... "

"Step on it, the other cab with the blonde just outta Wolfram Hart...!" Willow called to the driver...

"There's an extra fiver in it for you, sir!... " Buffy chimed in...

"She means fifty... Go!... " Willow corrected to the cabbie's frowning look... "It's her husband's mistress... We need photos... "

"Fifty... ?" Buffy gasped, fuming... As the cab raced off...

"Mistress?..." she looked at Willow...

"Just a plausible excuse... " Willow whispered, innocently Keeping her eyes away from Buffy's suspicious look...

"She means one hundred... Hurry along there, sir !..." Buffy called to the cabbie...

"Hello, Harmony... "

"Jesus " Harmony backed away... Looking desperately for the nearest exit...

Now there's the last person I ever expected to be taken for, Willow thought...

God, what a day... Lose your job to a forthcoming demonic invasion, betray your boss... Not necessarily in that order... And now, in the haven of my own building...

Cornered by my nemeses Nemesis?...

Whatever happened to an American vampire's posh apartment home being her crypt... ?

"Buf... Buf... Hi, Willow... Buf... " Harmony, still backing...

"This one?..." Buffy eyed Willow...

"Yep... " Willow nodded...

"I like the blonde, Willow... " Harmony tried... Keeping her terror sticken eyes off the famed Slayer and former classmate...

"Thanks... " Willow looked her over...

She looks rather prosperous these days... But then, Angel's secretary... One of the US' leading CEOs...

"Where is my husband, trollopire?..." Buffy, curtly... Pulling stake...

"And... And... The brunette is you... Buf... Buf... " Harmony, gasping at the last as Buffy stepped quietly toward her, stake in hand...

"Say?...Is that a new stake?..."

"Where is my husband?..." Buffy repeated...

Harmony now hearing the question clearly for the first time, Willow realized... Looking at Willow with shock...

"Are they married?...When?..."

Ahhh... She gasped as Buffy threw her against a wall, keeping her arm clamped in a vise grip, stake against her desperately upturned throat...

"Cannnnttt... "

"Better let her talk, Buffy... " Willow urged...

Buffy pulled the stake back just a hair...

" Believe it... " Harmony finished with a gulp of air... "You and Angel are married?..."

"Nina's gonna be pissed... " she managed a very careful shake of head, trying to avoid the still threatening stake point... Buffy throwing Willow a puzzled glance...Nina?...

Later...Willow's look back...

Right...

"Harmony... " Willow said carefully... "Your life... Or whatever Depends on this... Where are William and Angel?...Do you know?...Or don't you?..."

"Ummn... "

"I'll bounce you off that ceiling and onto this stake point... " Buffy said, icy calm tone... "Now answer my friend... "

"I think they're out there... " Harmony waved... "If they're still around... Doing whatever before fighting the Black Thorns... "

"Take us 'there'... Now... " Buffy pulled her from the wall..

"Sure, sure... But I think they didn't all go to the same place to bare their souls before death in a hopeless fight... Ummn... Say?.. Is that a British accent?...You know, I know about accents cause I work for one of the world's leading... "

"I mean tres elegant, the accent thing and all, Buffy... It's really pretty good... But you might wanna try French... That's the one that really... "

Oh!...

"Duly noted... " Buffy pulled her arm up behind her back, turning her slightly to conceal from any stray passersby... "You should know I've had a mild case of reincarnation and don't really remember you... Ummn... ?"

"Harmony... " Willow supplied...

"Right... So while I doubt I would have much trouble killing you in any case, it'll be quite easy for me to destroy you now... "

"Reincarnation?...Is that like, past lives and all?..." eager tone...

Well, that explains the granny glasses... She thought...

Though of course...Buffy Summers... Always knew she'd degenerate to geek adult after her brief period of high school mid level coolness...

"Yes... It's like that... " Dryly... "Now...Move Or dust... " Buffy forced her along... They moved down past the elevator area and stairwell of Harmony's floor... "You have a place here ...?"

"Oh, yeah... " Harmony, rather pleased at the notion of humiliating two ole classmates with her success in the world... "Just two doors down... Here, lemme get my key... You'll love it... "

"Willow?..." Buffy glanced at her Willow concentrating...

"Empty and no sign of an occult security system... That I can read... " Willow nodded...

"I wouldn't try to... " Harmony began...

"In then... " Buffy pulled then threw her inside, hurrying after, Willow following...

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXXIV...

"Welcome to my…" Harmony tried sounding the gracious note…

Buffy shoving her in…Willow, a bit apologetic… "Nice place…" she noted…Following…

Hmmn…Perhaps an invite wasn't the right way to go…Harmony thought as Buffy continued to urge her along into the living room…

Buffy sure seems the demonically possessed type right now…

"Have a seat…" she feebly waved at the designer sofa… "Oh, wait, let me get the slip cov…"

Buffy pulling her back… "Enough, miss…Stay right here…"

"…Kendall…Though for my family's sake I use Kendall-Jones now…" Harmony, helpfully…

"I'll be fine with a chair…" Willow, moving to a leather armchair…Hmmn…Nice…

"…And I'll stand here with you…" Buffy, tersely, holding Harmony's arm… "Now…"

"Would anyone like a drink?...I'm not a big wine person but I think I have some mer…"

"Miss…Kendall…" Buffy, grimly… "I asked you where my husband was…Now do you know or have a reasonable idea or no?..."

Willow a bit uncomfortable…Kid's trying to be nice, Buf…

And we haven't exactly fretted over her sad fate these past few…

"Uh…Not really, Buffy…" Harmony, a bit haplessly… "Angel said something about them all going to do something before they took on the Black Thorns tonight…Live a little or whatever, you know?..." she paused… "Spike?...Really?..." she looked at Buffy…

"Really…" Buffy, dryly…Cool stare…

"I might've known…" Harmony sighed… "He was always going on about you…And Angel, for that stuff about you and him…"

"The way love goes sometimes…" Buffy, coolly… "Glad he realized we'd no future…"

"Yeah, he's pretty keen on Nina now…" Harmony nodded…

"Oh?...Another vampiress?..." Buffy asked… "Anyone I've failed to kill in the last ten years?..."

I don't know if I like the way this is going…Willow thought…

"Oh, no…Werewolf and pretty recent…Nice girl, if you like that sorta thing…No murders that I know of…" Harm shrugged…

"That's fine…Now…" Buffy, pulling Harmony closer… "Where do you think William got himself off to and where are your friends the Partners…?"

"Oh, they're not my friends…Didn't Angel tell you I'm part of his team?..." Harm, eagerly…

Go Angel…Willow conjured up image of Harmony with pom-poms…Hmmn…

Uh…Sorry Tara, Ken…Really didn't mean for that to get sexual…

"Please, miss…" Buffy smiled coolly… "Whatever you may rightly think of Miss Summers, don't insult my intelligence…You're a spy for the Partners appointed to monitor Mr. Angel and his activities…"

Whoa…Brit Buffy is good…Harm thought, admiringly…

What's that crack about Buffy all about?...Willow, frowning…God, Cicely…Buf been berry, berry good to Cicely…Sparing your hubs, providing a bod to run around in…Whether she's half you or another complete reincarnated self, enough with this jealous need to run her down at every opp…

"…And however much the shining gleam of his extensive ego may blind him, even Mr. Angel must be quite aware of your activities against him…" Buffy continued… "So, for your own sake…"

Angel, on to me?...No way…Harm, annoyed…

I mean I've thoroughly professional in attending to my secretarial things even while betraying him…Hmmn, hee…That reminds me…She giggled a little, startling Buffy and Willow…

Insanity catching in vampiresses?...Buffy eyed Willow…

"It's…Spike said the funniest thing talking to Angel about their plan the other night…" Harm began…

Ummn…Probably best not to explain that I was eavesdropping for Marcus…

"…Angel said 'One of you is going to betray me' and Spike says…" Arggh…She gasped as Buffy gripped her by the throat…Lifting her up to Willow's stunned surprise…

"If you ever…Call my husband by that name again…" Buffy said, rather calmly… "I'll put you through the nearest wooden wall or roof…Do you understand, Miss Kendall?..."

"Uh…Yeah…Yeah…Sorry…" Harmony, twisting in Buffy's grip…

"Buffy…" Willow was on her feet… "We don't torment…"

"No…" she lowered Harmony… "But that was hardly what I call torment…I hope you get my meaning, Miss Kendall?..."

"Sure…Sorry…" Harmony choked out… "Could I have a glass of water…?"

"Willow, would you?..." Buffy asked…

"The bottled in the fridge, not the tap…" Harmony called…

"So what did William say…?" Startling Willow in the kitchenette by the said fridge with the sudden eagerness of the question…

"Uh…"

"Yes?...Please…" Buffy waved a hand… "Sit down if you like…"

"…Thanks…" Harmony took a seat on the sofa… "Well…" she relaxed a little…Thanks…She beamed to Willow as Willow brought her a glass of water…

"…He said… 'Can I deny you three times?'..." giggle…

"Oh my…" Buffy grinned… "Now that is my William…" smile to Willow…Followed by…

"Buffy?..." Harmony, genuinely shocked by the sudden explosion of sobbing…

"Buffy…" Willow anxiously, carefully glance at Harmony…Part sympathy, part…Deadly killer vamp to mind, no time to lose focus, please…

"Sorry…" Buffy calmed almost immediately… "Foolish of me…But it was so like him…" she beamed through tears…

"So he was always like that, eh?..." Willow smiled…

Office of the Chairman of the Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists, London…

Magda at her desk frowning at the vocal intensity issuing from the inner sanctum…

"What do you mean, you've 'lost track' of Dawn, Andrew?..." a pacing Giles fumed at his phone… "I specifically asked that you keep informed of her whereabouts for the next few days!…Damn, you boy!..."

Roger Wyndham-Price, sitting on Giles' desk, eyeing Olive Knowles standing near who glanced at him…Uncertain look to his smile…

"I'd guess Ms. Summers-Walthrop allowed her Walthropian side to dominate…" he noted quietly…

"You don't think she's gone to LA?..." Olive asked…

"I'd say it was a certainty…And Xander Harris is gone from Nairobi, via flight to Rome…"

"They've both gone…?"

"It's to be expected…" Roger nodded… "They're both integral players in this…"

Olive stared at him… "Did you…?"

He put up a hand as Giles resumed… "You do know that Xander Harris arrived in Rome just the other day?...Good…Well?..."

"But why Mr. Harris?..." Olive asked Roger… "I mean, I understand why he'd accompany Miss Summers… But…"

"Henry Alexander Foxcroft would never refrain from helping the two people he loved most, apart from his own wife…" Roger, calmly…

"But…" Olive blinked… "He's…Never…"

"Mr. Harris may not remember his soul's past as Ms. Summers now does…But he is Henry Foxcroft's soul…" Roger noted… "Besides, he wants to be in at the kill…"

"What?..."

"He almost succeeded in 1886 but there was no way for him block Farris' black soul from escaping…Naturally, resolute fellow that he was always said to be, he wants to help end this…Forever…And free his friends…"

Olive shook her head…He offered a seat beside the desk with a wave of hand…She remaining standing…

"But what about the Partners' army?..." she leaned forward as Giles continued to interrogate Andrew in increasingly angry tones… "They're in terrible danger…" she paused, eyeing Roger…

"You deliberately let them go…" she frowned, glancing over to Giles… "You knew she would go and he too…"

"All the players in position…" Roger nodded…Quick glance at angry Giles on the phone…

"Wells must be commended after this…Even if he knows Rupert is merely feigning…I've been on the receiving end of the Ripper's wrath once or twice…"

"Giles is…"

"We couldn't take the chance the Partners or others are monitoring our communications, Ms. Knowles…And naturally we want them to know everyone is somewhere about, on the playing board…It will only encourage them to risk maximum force…"

"But…If anything happens to Miss Summers…Or Mr. Harris?...And Cicely learns you let them come…"

"Cicely will quite probably kill us…Perhaps with her husband's assist should William survive as well…"

"But Dawn?...And Mr. Harris…Not meaning to denigrate them but their only value is to Cicely and William…How is risking them?..."

"Dawn is also the Glorificus energy key, Ms. Knowles…" Roger shrugged… "That alone would make her of substantial interest to the Partners…But as we both know, there's someone else who would be very interested in having the daughter of his enemies and the soul of the man who killed him present for the final act…"

"Dr. Farris…?" Olive blinked… "You believe he's in LA…?"

"No…" Giles had hung up the phone and come over… "But he will be there…He'll want to see the outcome, even if he leaves the fighting to his allies…"

"I see…" Olive sighed…Glancing at the two…A wry smile finally coming up…

"And here I was hoping this mysterious summons to your office meant you'd forgiven me, Rupert…"

"It was clever of you to hide in a relation of Spike's, Doctor…The chance to follow him unsuspected all through these last years of climax…" Giles nodded… "But you gave yourself away in reviving Cicely and subduing our Slayer…At the very least, surely a Walthrop with that level of magics ability could have been of greater assistance to William…"

"Don't try to leave…I shouldn't wish to injure your host…She is, after all, quite innocent…" Roger kept the small pistol he'd pulled from a drawer on Ms. Knowles…Who smiled warmly… "And you should know you would never get past Ms. Magda and her barrier…"

"Ah, dear Magda…Nice to know her skills haven't diminished with time…Gentlemen…" she frowned at Roger's gun… "Hardly necessary…You both know nothing would keep me from being at Cicely's side at such a moment…And you knew…All this time…?"

"Not absolutely…Not until you left your calling card for Cicely in Rome…" Giles sighed… "Though it was Henri who confirmed it…He being the only one of us to have ever met you besides Mr. Harris…And Foxcroft's memories of you failed to surface…That was what Henri was observing that night in the villa…He'd watched to see if his friend would surface and identify you…But he was sure…Your gestures…Your mannerisms…And the fact he was in the garden that afternoon and saw that no one else could have fired that dart at Buffy and Dawn…"

"Pity…I thought I'd played the damsel quite well…" Olive shook her head… "But the Immortal has the advantage of skills of patience and observation acquired over centuries and some habits are deuced hard to break…I hope this doesn't disturb you too much, Rupert…" coy smile…  
"I assure you I largely left Ms. Knowles to handle things on her own with you, since it benefited me, once I'd directed her your way…"

"We've a trip to make, Doctor…" Giles replied, coldly… "I trust you'll make no trouble until we reach LA…"

"You mean, it's not too late?..." she smiled… "Wonderful news…I take it we will teleport?...And that you have an army of Slayers and those delightful cyborgs ready to counterattack?..."

"No, as to the army…" Giles replied… "Nothing more than we already sent…You and your friends will not have a chance to destroy our Slayers en masse…"

"Foolish…Not use your advance intelligence to mass a proper force?..." Olive frowned…

"If you'd allow us opportunity to mass such a force, you've a defense…" Roger smiled… "Besides…Cicely and her husband, let alone Angel and my boy…Have defeated worse on their own…And we'll be there to assist them…"

"And if I should put up resistance and force you to kill the poor shell…?" Olive, brightly…

"You won't be cut off from Earth now…" Giles eyed her… "Possibly in LA we may have to deal with you…But you want to get to LA as badly as we do…Clever as it was for you not to insist on accompanying Cicely and Willow…"

"That would have been foolish…Still, I was rather afraid I'd have to do it on my own and loot the archives for an energy orb…" she grinned… "But after your call I rather suspected you might have finally put the pieces together…Well, colleagues…" she eyed them… "Shall we go watch my Slayer destroy the combined forces of Demonity?..." brightly warm smile…She turned for the door…

"I am sorry, Olive…" Giles replied…

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXXV...

"So the Black Thorn Circle is aware of Angel's attack…?" Buffy eyed Harmony who had relaxed a hair, sipping blood-laced water on her sofa as Buffy stood near and Willow sat in the exceedingly luxuriant leather chair across from them…

Ummn…

"Miss Kendall…"

"Well, they are very clever…" Harmony dodged… "I suppose they…"

"No doubt, thanks in small part to your efforts to keep them informed, eh Miss?…" Buffy, dryly…

Harmony staring…Whoa…Buffy Summers, vampire's whore, reincarnated as a slightly prettier version of that M lady?...And all British, to boot…?

Right, M was a Brit…Well, even better…

Scary, really…"Buffy, the Brit nerd wife of Spike, er William"…Much more so than "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"…

Say…?

"Small" part?...

"Marcus said my…Ummn…"

"Marcus?..." Willow asked… Liaison to the Partners for Wolfram-Hart, according to Giles…Buffy explained…

"What did 'Marcus' say?..." Buffy looked at Harmony… "And where can we find him?..."

"Uh…Just that I'm the best gol'darned executive secretary in the W-H franchise and there's always a position open for me in his establishment should I ever…"

"Miss Kendall…" Buffy leaned over her, dark tone…Harmony instinctively shrinking back…

God, she's like my ole homeroom teacher…Right down to the glasses hanging from her neck…

"I assume there's not much time…So I want you to understand your Unlife depends on your answers…Your quick and detailed answers…To my questions…What did your master say?...Where is he?...How much do the Partners know of Angel's plans?...And what do you know of where William or Angelus might have gone?..."

"Angel…" Willow corrected…Firmly…

As in, we don't kill Angel…

"Right…Angel…" Buffy, curtly…

"Marcus isn't…" A cool stare curbed Harmony's protest… "Well…You hafta understand my job was on the line…And I am evil and all…"

"If I blamed you, you would be dead…I understand you can't help your nature…"

"Right…Well…I tole him…Under job threat…What I'd heard…Which really wasn't all that much, come to think of it…And he just laughed and said they'd never believed Angel was serious about accepting their offer…But after tonight he'd see the hopelessness of fighting Demonity…And 'to save his miserable band of idiots…'"

"That's what he said…" Harmony eyeing the stares from Buffy and Willow…

"…'He'd learn to toe their line'…" she finished… "Really he didn't seem to care much about Angel's plan, whatever it is…He didn't think they had a chance, I'm sure…"

"And you didn't have any other information for him?..."

"Uh…No, actually…That's all…Angel really didn't seem to want to go into details when I was listening…"

"Wiser than I would have thought, our Mr…" Buffy smiled at Willow's look… "…Angel…He kept his plans close to his vest…Good…"

"And now…Harmony…" she returned to Harmony… "Marcus?..."

"Don't know…" Harmony shrugged… "He has a place he uses near here…The royal suite, a whole floor, really…In the building across the way…But I doubt he's there…Probably consulting with the Partners or the Black Thorn…"

"And as to where William and Angel may be?..." Buffy, pleasantly…

"Don't know, I tole you…But I think Wesley is at Wolfram-Hart getting ready…And Illyria…"

"The demon queen?..." Buffy asked… "She's actually working with Angel?..."

"Far as I know…I think she likes Wesley…Or William…They really seem…"

Choking sound as Buffy lifted her off the sofa with one hand…

" 'Or William'?"...Buffy, still pleasant tone…Though a grim look…

"Buffy…" Willow protested…Harmony, eyes rolling, a pleading glance to her old classmate, her best nerd friend of yore…If she'd ever allowed a nerd to be a friend…Willow…

Not to mention that other common bond…

"Just trying to resolve an issue quickly…So William and Illyria are…Close?..."

"They fight a lot…That usually means Sp…William likes a girl…He really loved Wini…" gasp…

"He loved…Dr. Burkle?...Platonically or kill you right now, love?..."

"Buffy?...You know she doesn't know what that means…" Willow, rising… "And she'll just lie if the other were true…Which you know it isn't…He just was grateful to her for stuff, right Harmony?..."

"Yeah…Grateful…She tried to help…Him…" Harmony, feet dangling, gasped out.

"What a sweet girl…I'm sorry we couldn't help her…" Buffy, friendly smile, lowering the vampiress…

"Yeah…Real shame…And I don't think he and Lyri have had sex…She's kinda into Wes…" Harmony quickly bolstered her position…

"She must have picked up memory frags from Winnie…" Willow noted…

"Yeah…" Harmony nodded… "Angel said something like that once about her…Memory whatever…"

"So Illyria is with Angel and the others?…On their side, I mean…" Buffy resumed her interrogation…

"Looks like it…" Harmony nodded… "Marcus was a little disappointed in her…He thought a former demon warrior queen goddess should have a little more self respect than to go mooning after some Brit nerd…"

"I see…Well, so long as she doesn't 'moon' after my Brit nerd…" Buffy noted… "And as for William and Angel?..."

"I tole you…" Harmony sighed…

"They must be planning to meet…Where are they meeting?...Here or…?"

"Angel didn't say…" Arrggh…Harmony found herself in mid-air again, held by the throat…

"Tell me something, you stupid, blonde…Yank…" Buffy grimly muttered…Waving stake… "You…Miserable…Talk!..."

"Buffy…I really don't think…" Willow tried…Buffy waving her off…

"If I knew, I'd…" Harmony gasped…

"You…Adulteress…You…Miserable…" Buffy was trembling now… "Steal my husband, will you?...Bitch…Stupid skeletal little whore…Buffy…"

Willow stared…Oh…Geesh…

"Buffy…Stop it!...She's not…"

"What's…Wronggg…With…" Harmony gasped out…Buffy shaking her like a rag doll…

"Cicely!..." Willow cried… "Let her go!..."

"Beat him…Rape him…Abandon him…You whore, you worthless…!..." Buffy muttered grimly… "You used him and left him to die, you…Buffy…" she spit the word out…

"Cicely…This is not Buffy…Put her down or I'll make you put her down…" Willow said, firmly…

Buffy looked over at her, still holding the choking Harmony…

Not that I couldn't do this all day, Harmony thought, but it is kinda terrifying…She writhed in Buffy's grip…

"I know you hate yourself for what happened to Will, then and now…But killing Harmony won't help…" Willow noted, cautiously… "You know you are Buffy, Cicely…Denying it won't change anything…And won't make William forgive you…Cicely, you gave me a promise back in London…I said I'd hold you to it and I will…"

Buffy eyed her coldly…Still holding Harmony, twisting in her grip…

"If you really want to save Will, we have to get moving…Besides…" wan grin…

"You know you don't want William to know you know about his lil' indiscretion…" Willow glanced at the feebly struggling Harmony… "He didn't know the marriage was still on, after all…"

"Of course he didn't…" Buffy set Harmony down, with a slight thud on landing…

"Thanks…" Harmony gasped…

"It was really quite cruel of us to leave you like this…You being an old friend…" Buffy noted… "I apologize for my counterpart's thoughtless behavior…But if you could assist us…"

Ummn…Harmony blinked at the sudden resumption of polite pleasantness…Glancing at Willow…

"I'd try hard, Harmony…" Willow nodded… "Very hard…"

"I do get to Unlive if I do?…" Harmony looked from one to the other… "I mean, this isn't a build-up to the moment when you 'reward' me with peace or some crap like that in the form of a quick dusting?..."

"I'll leave you be…" Buffy nodded, sidelong glance to Willow… "If you try 'very hard'…"

"Well…I don't know where they are…But I do know where William lives now…" Harmony offered…

"That's a good start…" Buffy nodded… "And I'd like to see…Lets be off…"

"Lets…" Harmony nodded…

"What about Wes?..." Willow suggested… "We could just go in and try to speak to him…"

"The building's closed and kinda tough to get into…" Harmony noted… "Including magics shielding…If you're thinking of teleporting…"

No great desire to be diverted into a supporting beam, thanks…In addition to my desire to help out a troubled old friend…Clearly Buffy is having some of those split personality issues, like poor ole Youri and his female sleeper agent self, the one who was going to run for governor in Alaska…Terrible thing the KGB did to a nice demon like that…God, I thought the Initiative was bad over here…

"Lets leave Mr. Wyndham-Price for later…If he hasn't left on our return, a good sign they're coming to meet here…" Buffy insisted… "Come…Harmony?..." Harmony nodding... "Yes, Harmony, lets go see my Will's Los Angeles digs…"

"Yeah…You know, in all this time he never did invite me over..." she pouted a little…

"Another point in your favor…Your chances of surviving are rising all the time…" Buffy smiled warmly… "Shall we?..." she waved to indicate the door…

"Just let me check my daylight protection…It's only good for short periods…" Harmony asked…Pulling out a compact from her purse at Buffy's nod…

"Let Miss Rosenberg see it, please…" Buffy politely requested… "Check it out, Willow, please?..." Harmony reluctantly handing compact over…

Thank B'aal I didn't have my other purse with the mind numbing gas compact…She sighed inwardly…That probably would have set her off again…

"It's a minor spell, not offensive…It seems to be just what she says…" Willow examined the compact…Handing it back to Harmony at Buffy's slight nod…

"Thanks…" Harmony opened the compact and powered her nose…

"Last time I forgot and my nose caught on fire…" she grinned…Willow smiling back, catching herself…

Oh…Gee…She blinked…Staring at Harmony as she closed the compact…Sensing Buffy's gaze on her…

So now you see…At last…That gaze said…Now you know, a little…What I feel…What is driving me, killing me…Pushing me to the very limits of sanity…

God, oh my God…What have we done?...Willow sadly thought…

"Anything wrong?..." Harmony, questioning look…

"Is she ok?..." Harmony addressed Willow as they stood in the hallway outside William's rather grubby basement apartment…

"Just give her a mo…" Willow said, not unkindly…

"Willow?..." Harmony, earnestly… "You won't let her kill me?...For ole time's sakes?...Please…"

"Keep your end up…That's all I can advise, Harmony…" Willow shrugged… "But if it were up to me, I'd stake you…For ole times' sake…Harmony…I really am sorry we didn't do something for you…"

"Thanks…Loads…" Harmony sighed, pouting… "Now you're sorry…Where were you before I became such a world-class killing machine?…Retired, of course…" she hastily noted…

"You abandoned me and thought I was a joke…" she continued, staring at Willow… "Left my poor soul in agony…You, the compassionate one…My own classmate…"

Oh…Willow stared…

"Enough…" Buffy had emerged… "You're risking immediate termination, demon…"

"Fine…" Harmony frowned… "Excuse me for learning to tell the truth like your William…" she noted…Willow sighing…

She's not bad, really…A little more practice and she might've had me…

"Just pray he skips over the 'truth' in your case…" Buffy noted…Willow now seeing that she carried a small box filled with items…

"For tracing?..." she asked, pointing to the box…

"More or less…And I wanted some of his things…" Buffy patted the box… "He won't mind, I assure you…Look, Willow…Isn't he handsome in a good suit?..." she pulled out a fairly recent shot of a reluctant-looking Spike in business suit by Angel… "Though the blonde…A bit much…But I'll get him back to normal in a few weeks…"

"Oh, right…I remember that one…" Harmony nodded… "He had to have a company id and record to get on the payroll so Angel dragged him out to buy him a suit…He swore he'd never wear one again…"

Oh…Buffy looked a bit downcast…

"I'm sure it has nothing to do with you…" Willow hastily noted… "Spike just has never liked formal…But he does look good…And I do know that time he was gonna marry you…He…"

Buffy blinked…Harmony blinked…

Oops…

And I'd managed to keep that little episode buried all these months…

"A spell of mine that got screwy…It was presoul, so doesn't count…And it wasn't real…Just bad spelling on my part…" Willow explained…

"Did I…?"

"Oh, yeah…It was a very strong spell…You were all over…"

"It was a very strong spell, sorry…" she concluded hastily at Buffy's glare…

"Wow…When was that?..." Harmony asked… "Was it before Spike fell madly for Buffy?...Cause I always wondered if that really was on the up and up or maybe something your Council or even you did…"

"Lets change the subject…" Willow suggested, brightly…

"Lets…" Buffy, grimly… "Come, we'll see if anyone about saw him leave and had any idea of where he was heading…That means you too, Miss…"

"She really has issues with her other self doesn't she?..." Harmony noted to Willow quietly as they headed down the hall to the stairs to the outside…

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXXVI...

Downtown LA…Afternoon…

"I think left…"

"Be sure, miss…" Buffy frowned at Harmony… "I do not have time for games…"

"Look…" Harmony glared… "I may be a vampire and able to track a scent, particularly that of an ex-…" she eyed Buffy's hard stare… "…coworker, but I'm not a bloodhound…I'm doin' my best…"

"I'm picking up some kind of demonic aura to the left, I think she's telling the truth more or less…" Willow noted hastily… Harmony giving a 'thanks' glance at the note of support…

"Yes…I sense it too…Very well…" Buffy nodded, curtly… "After you, miss…" she waved Harmony on…

"You really don't remember me?..." Harmony sighed at Buffy's cool stare… "We were like that…" fingers together… "In high school…"

"Harmony…" Willow frowned…

"What?..." she stared at Willow… "I know I'm all evil and vicious and all and sure, I'm ready to exploit any weak sentimentality on your part, but we were all such good buddies then…" slight catch in her voice…

My god, I don't think she's lying…Willow blinked…

"Then I'm sure you want to help me…And it's so very much in your own self-interest that must also appeal…" Buffy noted… "Now, come along and perhaps you'll unlive to see the sunset…"

"Hardly matters…" Harmony shrugged… "We'll likely all be dead by the sunset when the Black Thorn crush Angel and the others…Though…" she gave a shrewd look… "…I could be persuaded to put in a good word for you with Marcus…"

"Difficult to do when dust, girl…Go on…" Buffy prodded her carefully, concealing "Dickens" in her sleeve…

"Wait…Wait!...Hey…" Harmony frowned… "Stop it!...I think…" she eyed the glass window to her left…

"Oh my God…" Willow stared… "Oh my dear God…" she blinked…At the poster of the wall of the bar just past the corner they'd turned…Harmony breaking off from peering in to look at the poster as well…Hmmn…?

"What?..." Buffy stared…Harmony stared…

"What the dickens is a poetry slam?..." Buffy asked…

Downtown LA…Five blocks from the Wolfram-Hart Tower complex…

"All right…Contact me as soon as you've assembled the group…But if you locate Ms. Summers…Mrs. Walthrop…Let me know at once…" Giles told his phone…Closing phone…

"She's left them…?" Roger asked…Olive by his side, arm securely held in his grip smiling benignly, with amused curiosity…

"Yes…She insisted…But Willow is with her…" Giles frowned…

"Miss Rosenberg?...Then I'm sure Cicely will be quite all right, Rupert…" Olive smiled…

"Should we proceed to the Wolfram-Hart Tower?..." Roger asked…

"Not yet…" Giles shook his head… "We're too well-known to the Partners, even human guards would id us and we might be seized…Besides, Buffy and Willow were heading away from there…With Angel's secretary, Ms. Kendall…"

"Fully vampiral…And no doubt a Black Thorn spy…" Roger noted…

"Yes…But someone who could possibly locate William for her…Dr. Farris?...I could of course either knock or drug you unconscious and leave you in some alley in this rather benighted city or bring you along…Since I suspect you have a role to play here I intend to bring you with us…But understand that regardless of your form I will take whatever action is necessary if you attempt to interfere with us or Ms. Summers…"

"You've really little to fear, Rupert…My abilities are quite limited in this body…" Olive sighed… "An unfair arrangement by my lights but the only one offered me…"

"And you couldn't resist the chance to torment Cicely a last time…" Roger noted…

"She's back with a chance to save her lover, isn't she?...I hardly call that 'torment', Dr. Wyndham-Price…Given my role in helping her achieve that, I should say I…"

"You?..." Giles stared… "You brought Cicely back?..."

"No, Rupert…" warm smile… "As I said my abilities are unfortunately limited to submerging my presence in poor Ms. Knowles and minor tricks like those I used in the hospital…But I did help, shall we say?…To rouse her from her sleep in your charge…"

"What do you hope to achieve now, Farris?…Some arrangement with the Partners to destroy William?...Another attempt to drive Cicely to madness or evil…?" Roger asked, coldly…

"Dr. Wyndham-Price…" Olive wagged a forefinger, mock frown… "Telling would spoil it…"

"William Soames Walthrop… 'To Cicley' and 'The Wanton Folly of Me Mum'…Thanks, William…" the announcer spoke into the mike…Vigorous clapping about the room…As Buffy, Willow, and Harmony stared…

"Oh, my God…Oh, God…" Buffy murmured… "There…There he is…" she pointed…Hand, arm trembling… "William!...Willow, for God's sakes, hurry!…" she shoved a patron aside and clambered on the table before her…Willow trying to get on a chair…Can't see…

Oh, Jesus…There he is…And there he goes…She hopped off the chair…A rather blasted patron startled almost to sobriety to see the radiant expression on the lovely blonde chick's face…

Though it did not prevent him from attempting a drunken grope which luckily for him came nowhere near contact…She racing past him…

Oh, God of my fathers, thank you…Thank you for saving my poor, poor friend…

Though if you screw with us now…

Harmony shrewdly eyeing them…Hmmn…

Don't think they'd really mind if I…After all, I'm just in the way, now…She turned and slipped into the crowd, rushing for the door…

"William!..." Buffy screamed… "William!..."

Echoed by a few semi-drunk patrons, some, mostly female, rather eagerly… "William!..." Some clapping…

"Eh, can it...He sucked…" one over-weight fellow, balding in biker jacket, skull-and-crossbones prominently displayed…His suit underneath well concealed…

A middle-aged LA dentist must cut loose now and then, after all…

He blinked at Buffy's murderous glare…But she had other concerns, fortunately for him…

She hopped to the next table, knocking glasses and plates about…Yelps and threats shouted, she ignoring, pressed on…Willow hurrying behind…

God…We lost Harmony, she realized…Ah, well…Hopefully she's much too terrified of Cicely to bother anyone right now…

And thank God I didn't promise to spare her…Cause, I promise, Harm…Ole classmate…Ole well, semi-friend, and neighbor…I will not let you be a joke…Or suffer like this as long as I have breath…She continued after Buffy who'd staggered along to the stage, shoving back annoyed, stunned, angry patrons…

I swear it, Harmony…On my soul…And I sincerely beg your forgiveness…

"William!...William!..." Buffy cried…Jumping onto the stage, glaring off the huge bouncer who made a show of confronting the hysteric…Fan, ex-…Whatever the crazy bitch was…

Willow reached her…Dodging a few more drunken, less wisely cautious patrons…At the stage door exit…Buffy pounding the locked door…Turning…

"You saw…You saw…" she gasped… "Oh, God…" she whaled on the door…Smashing clear through to Willow's shock with a single punch… "Clear away!..." she warned behind her, ripping at the door, a quick glance to Willow who pulled back as the door came loose…

Jesus Christ…The bouncer stared…

"What the hell was that poem that dude read…?" he turned to a battered-looked stage hand trying to dig out a cell phone to summon LA's finest to deal with the brunette tornado…

"William!..." Buffy was screaming as Willow reached her on the street…Various passers-by on the street staring…

"Oh, God…Damn you!..." she raged…Breathing heavily…

Willow catching the sound of a siren… "Buffy…" she hissed…

Fierce glare…

Fine…Willow frowned back… "Cicely…We have to get outta here or you're going to be arrested or fighting half of the LAPD soon…"

Buffy caught breath…Staring…

"You know he's alive now…Lets go get him…" Willow urged…

"Right…Right…" Buffy nodded…Breathing normally…

"Come along then, Willow…" she urged, calmly now… "I suggest we not run unless the police pursue us…"

"Yeah…" Willow sighed…

Thank God no one will ever suspect the crazy girl's friend was me once I'm outta the blonde wig and this tanned bimbo glam is off…

"He looked well, didn't he…?" Buffy said, eagerly as they walked…She pausing…Clearly trying to catch the scent…

"What I saw…Yeah…" Willow nodded…

"He always was so dashing and tall…" she bubbled on…

Tall…?...Willow blinked…Maybe yeah on the dashing, if a homicidal maniac threatening you in your dorm can be such…

"…And you know, that black and red actually suits him…Though really I still say once you've seen him in a good suit, Willow…" Buffy waved a hand… "Of course, I realize you can't fully appreciate…"

She's only talking to me like this 'cause she'd be deathly jealous of any straight "best friend" who'd known him for the past few while she was in that home crypt or wherever…Willow told herself…It's not meant to be rude…

"Just one mo…" Buffy paused…Looking up… "God, almighty…Forgive me…I was rude…But you have lain out some rather unnecessary obstacles, you know…" Buffy said, quietly… "I apologize…But please don't make me suffer more…"

"Seconded, God…" Willow called up…

"Thanks…" Buffy smiled… "Lets go…You know…We should do something about your old friend, that vampiress…I mean when things are settled…"

"Yeah…" Willow sighed… "I'm kinda feelin' that myself…"

"One can't save everyone immediately, Willow…" Buffy patted her… "Look at my own case…One hundred years and more to resolve my own husband's murder…We'll do what we can for her as soon as we can…This way…" she pointed…Beaming now… "I saw him, Willow…It wasn't a lie, these feelings…" she was moving faster now… "I can still…"

"Hold up a little, Buffy…" Willow called… "I can't match you for speed…"

Buffy continued on, unheeding…Face glowing…Politely dodging those in her way…

Not a lie…It was true…He is here…Our child is here…We can still put it all right…All…

Willow, puffing along now…Great…The one time I look vaguely hot and I'm churning myself into sweaty butter…She paused to catch heaving breath…

Still…She caught sight of herself and a couple of young men eyeing her from across the street in the glass of a shopwindow…A slender, Californian-tanned blonde, chest heaving…Rather attractive outfit rather attractively askew…

Not too bad at that…And look at those…

"Willow!..." Buffy had swung back… "Please!...Not wishing to rush you but can we get on with it…?" urgent look…

Librarian chic Buffy, suit sweat-stained, hair matted, granny-glasses dangling…Chest likewise heaving…

And she still looks hotter than me…Willow sighed…Catching the looks Buffyward…

Oh, well…At least I can wear this stuff for Ken-girl later on…Not that she'd prefer it to true Willow, (I damn well hope) but a little variety every now and then…

Though as to the glam boobs…

"Willow!..." Buffy's urgent cry…

Right, right…Century-old romance to settle…Can see what Ken-ken thinks about the boobs later…

LA…Wolfram-Hart Plaza, outside the Wolfram-Hart Tower, currently evacuated owing to "gas leak"…

"So?..." Dawn looked at the returned Xander…Just back from making inquiry as to the evacuation…

"They claim there's a possible gas leak…Everyone's supposedly out…"

"Well?...Do we try and reach Giles' people?...Or just try to get inside some other way?...Or…?"

"Lets take it slow, Dawnie…There's always the good chance the Big Bads are inside and they probably know you very well, nameless what-his-name? as I might be to them…"

"I didn't come here to sit around waiting…" she noted… "And we've done that since we got here…"

"We wanted to steer clear of Giles and co…And Buffy and Willow aren't…Hang on a mo…" he pulled out a buzzing cell phone…

"Yeah…Ok…There's a Starbucks about one block from the Wolfram-Hart Plaza…We'll meet there…Drum St…Ok…Ten minutes…"

"He's here…Giles and Dr. Wyndham-Price…" Xander eyed Dawn, pocketing phone…

"Great…" she sighed… "Maybe now we can get somewhere…"

"What?..." she looked at him… "You don't wanna?...I don't trust them either, Xander, but we're not makin' a heck of a lot of progress on our own here…Not like we'd be giving up essential info…"

"I'm just…" he eyed her…

"What?..."

"Dawn…You are their daughter…Even if Sp…William…Doesn't know, Cicely knows…"

"Bait?..." she eyed him…

"I wouldn't put it pass them…"

"Yeah, but, it's still not a bad idea…" she grinned… "I sure intended to make use of it…"

He stared…

"Xander, it's the one card we got…Me…And you knew as well as me, we'd have to play it…Though I sure, for one, wasn't planning to just go waltzing in…Myself…To Giles and co…" wider grin… "Just make sure you get everything they know…And make mine a double latte, with sugar…" she smiled, a bit more nervously, hesitated…

And to his astonishment, kissed him…Gently…But with a steady intensity that left no doubt that it was not lil' Dawny girl sayin' bye to her dear friend…

"Be careful…Even if it is Giles and not the Partners playing with us…"

"Uh…Sure…" he blinked at her…

Nothing all the time coming over…Or the time here…And then this…

"Anya won't be mad…But look we'll talk when this is all over…" she nodded, warm smile… "For now, just remember to take a strong stand with my dad if you meet him first…Make a good impression, you know?...Mom's on your side, so that's ok…And don't let him throw ya, he's had his clumsy days, remember…?"

He blinked…

"That's two sugars, ok?..."


	3. Chapter 3

"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, . or direct to story at . ...

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present...With help from an Immortal source.

Part XXXVII...

"Buffy!..." Willow called…Hurrying along after the Slayer now scurrying down the street in rather conservative if sweaty business suit…

Yet though intent on her mission of assisting her friend at what was looking, hopefully, like a somewhat happier end game than she'd allowed herself to hope…Rather pleased at the various looks she caught directed her way by various men and women…

Nice glam, this California blonde thing…She beamed involuntarily…

"Damnation!..." Buffy cried, halting… "Am I forever to be cheated like this?..." she whirled back to view Willow… "Willow?...Can you do anything to locate him?...Please, there may be little time…"

"Gimme…A sec…" Willow panted…Chest heaving…

Ok, I'm enjoying it just a bit…But I never had a chest like this before…

"Miss Rosenberg!...Please!..."

"Buffy, I tole…You…I'm not a bloodhound…Just give me a sec here…" she concentrated…

"I can't lose him now, Willow!...My apologizes but hurry, please…!"

"I'm not picking up anything clear…It's funny…There's no sign of any vamp but Harmony that I can sense right around here…He's disappeared, somehow…"

"Surely you can do better…I can still sense Harmony…" Buffy frowned…

"Sorry…" she immediately added…

"It's ok…I still can't pick him up…He's either moved out of my range pretty quick or…He's off the grid, somehow…"

"What?..."

"It's not something to worry about…It'd make sense if Angel and co are going into battle soon against the Thorns…He may be using something to make him…Buffy?..."

There she goes again…She eyed the vanishing Buffy…Setting after her…

Halting suddenly at the next corner as Buffy raced up to a policewoman in uniform…

"Help!...Miss…Officer…A tall, blonde man just assaulted me!..."

Willow, staring…The policewoman eyeing Buffy in her disheveled state carefully…

Oh…I get it…We can't sweep the local area alone…

Nice…And it's not like they can shoot him while trying to flee…

"My friend there can corroborate my story…" Buffy eyed Willow… "He also tried to harm her…"

"Oh, yeah…" Willow nodded… "A real maniac…You gotta get an all-points out on him before he gets away…"

"Uh-huh…Let me handle that end of things, miss…" the officer frowned… "You say this man assaulted you?..." she turned back to Buffy… "Have you been raped?..."

"What?!..." Buffy, jaw-dropping… "Miss?...How can you ask a question like that out here in public?..."

"Buffy?...The officer's just trying to help…"

"Well?..."

"Ummn…"

"Not raped, but he tried…" Willow, helpfully…Buffy glaring…

Miss Rosenberg?...

"Ok, description?..."

"Blonde…Very blonde…Willow you have the picture?..."

"Picture?...You know this man?..." the officer asked…Hard stare…

"She was meeting him…Lunch date thing…" Willow, hastily… "Down at that club back there…I came to keep an eye, everything seemed fine then he went all crazy and potential rapist…I thought for sure he'd kill her…"

Well, does sound like most of their encounters…She fumbled for the picture of Spike in her purse…

"Here, this is him…" Willow handed the picture…

"And if you don't hurry, who knows what mayhem this monster may do…" Buffy cut in…

"Uh-huh…" eyeing photo…

"Not meaning to dismiss your pain but…This photo looks like it was taken a while ago…"

"They were Internet for a year or so…" Willow, hastily… "You know how it goes there…"

"Right…Well, we'll take care of him…First, ma'am, how are you?..."

"Hmmn?...Me…?" Buffy stared… "I'm fine…"

Willow, nudging…

Buf…

"Ah…Yes…Just a bit unnerved…Can you please take up the search?!..."

"Ma'am, you're my first concern…I'm going to call you an ambulance…Then we'll see if we can…"

"Bollocks!…No wonder this city has such a high crime rate!...Bother the ambulance!...Willow, come on!..."

Bollocks?...Willow smiled…

Like she says, she's learnt a lot from that husband of hers…

"Oh…And that 'tall'? Think relative…" she called to the officer as she hurried after Buffy…

Hmmphf…Spike glanced round…Standing near a bank of cabs, keeping under an awning…

Could've sworn I was being followed…Dead hairs standing on the back of my dead neck…

Well, probably was…Shook 'em, anyhow.

He hesitated and noting a bit of cloud cover, hurried to the nearest cab, hopping in…

Coughing a bit at the wisp of smoke…

"Have to give it up…It's killing me." He smiled to the driver, giving him the address Angel had passed to him for the Fell Brethren temple...

God, wish Cics could have been there just now…

Well, she'd've just been embarrassed and annoyed, rather like Buf, I suppose…

Still…Somehow…Well… It just would have been the cream on the sundae.

Both Buffy and Willow finally pausing now in their run and search…

William cleanly away…Though almost certainly without a clue as to whom he'd manage to evade…

Almost as if…Willow shook her head as she tried to catch breath…The Fates were pulling every last trick they could…

Buffy voicing her thoughts in the same instant, perhaps more urgently…

"Lost him…Goddamn it! How could we lose him?! It's this damned skeletal little fool of a body…If I had my own form…" Buffy raged. "Worthless, Yankee slut of a body!"

"Cicely…" Willow, gasping a bit…"Cicely…"

"I promise to keep my word and whatever happens not to kill Buffy, even if that means I stay trapped here till the little trollop rots. There, satisfied?" Buffy glared.

"And no slacking off with her enemies, Cicely…Dawn would be hurt too, you know."

"If I didn't think that, I'd lie to you, Willow." Buffy, calmer now. "Sorry, I suppose perhaps I'm not quite as noble as that husband-stealing nymphet of yours."

"Not really…She's lied to me often enough." Willow, coolly.

"They're going to take him from me…Those bastard Powers That Be…I know it…They've never dealt squarely with me from the first day the Watchers made me." Grim, panting tone.

"What?" Willow blinked. "You mean to say…?"

"Of course I'm the soul of the First Slayer, Willow." Buffy eyed her. "And the best…Who else would they keep forcing back into this miserable world to fight their key battles for them?"

"But…But Buffy met…"

"As did I once…" off-hand wave… "With as little recognition…But I've been dead a hundred years and had to pull every string to be reborn. Connections get filled in. Well…" sly grin, still panting a bit. "At least your notion of my somewhat backward racial views must now be dropped in the ashbin, eh?"

Narrow look…

So…

"What?"

"You remember being the First Slayer…Tens…Hundreds?...of thousands of years ago…And you don't remember Buffy?"

"Hardly my fault if she prefers not to…" arch look.

Of course…Willow stared. She prefers not to…

Natch…How could she not…?

Hell, I went bonkers just standing by and being able to do nothing, with all my power, to save Tara…

Whereas she not only helped kill and condemn him…For the past few years she's been with the wrong souled vampire, done nothing to help him, used him brutally, and even nearly let him fall into the First's tender hands…

How could she bear it? Answer…She couldn't…Not when Cicely's closet door finally opened and all the rest came tumbling out…The truth about how he died, Dawn, Giles' lies, the Council's betrayals…Her failures…William's hideous sufferings…It all came out…The day he died again, no doubt… When she knew all at last and ran and hid and left Cicely to handle things best she could.

Cicely, the part of her who'd sinned and been sinned against the least…Whose determination to have her husband and daughter back and whole could even outweigh her guilt.

The First, the Master, Angelus?...Child's play to her worst enemy of all…Buffy Summers…

"This was all Buffy's idea…She let you out…In...Whatever, in her mind… She's been refusing to come out."

"Well…Your guess is as good as mine…But a reasonable hypothesis…" Buffy grinned.

"You knew all along Buffy was holding back…You let us suffer…" Willow glared.

"Me? I'd no idea what your Miss Summers was up to…Glad though to see the girl did feel some remorse for her heinous acts, assuming your guess is correct. Now, don't dwaddle, Willow! Time may be running out!"

"No. Not a step further." Willow, grimly. "You tell Buffy I want to talk to her! Now!"

"There's no time for this! I've not lied to you, Willow!"

"Maybe not. But she has! Buffy! You miserable…" she grabbed at Buffy, shaking her…

Whoa…She fell back at the hard toss, Buffy frowning at her.

"Sorry…But I told you…No time." Buffy noted. Suddenly…"Wil, please…"

Willow staring…

"…help her, help me…I can't lose him now!" Buffy's pleading face…

"You've left us worrying all these months, Buffy! You could've come back anytime, couldn't you!?"

"What?" Buffy, accent restored, staring… "Willow, I can't wait any longer, come or stay, we must hurry!"

"Fine…This isn't over, Buffy." Willow glared, waving for her to go on…

"What? Really, Miss Rosenberg…Sometimes…I do not understand you people…" Buffy, hurrying on, to the Willow doing her best to follow.

It isn't, Buffy…Willow thought grimly…You can't do this, not even for William…You can't just let Cicely have everything…

Whatever guilt drove you to this…And I can see just how much and how unbearable it was, now…Not even William deserves that…

"Will you please shake a leg, Miss Rosenberg?!" call…

The Starbucks offered by Giles as a rendezvous…

Xander cautiously approaching the table where Giles, Roger, and Ms. Knowles/Dr. Farris sat quietly.

Noting several people at various tables seeming to pause in their casual conversations to eye him…

"Giles…" he nodded to Giles…

"Xander…Where is Dawn? Is she safe?"

"Safe enough…" nod. "Hey, Ms. Knowles, Dr. Wyndham-Price…"

"Xander, you've done an incredibly foolish thing letting Dawn persuade you to come here." Giles noted.

"Probably…" he took a seat. "But she figured it was what you'd wanted all along anyway…And better she had charge of herself than you."

"A wise young woman…" Ms. Knowles smiled. "She's so like her mother…Isn't she, Henry?"

Xander staring…

"Pity you don't remember me…I certainly remember you." She beamed. "Oh, don't be like that, Rupert…" she eyed Giles' grim stare. "I've no desire for revenge, suicidal or otherwise…Henry Foxcroft had every reason to kill me and I was fool enough to give him the chance. No hard feelings, Foxcroft…Truly." She eyed Xander.

"May I present Dr. Simon Duncan Farris, Cicely's Watcher and murderer…" Roger said, quietly.

"I'm sure Henry needs no introduction…Even if he can't quite place me." Ms. Knowles, pleasantly.

"She…" Xander stared… "All this time, lying to us…? It was her in Rome, with the dart thing?"

"No…Olive had no idea Farris was buried in her, Xander…" Giles, quickly. "Her wanting to help William was honest…But Farris was clever and skillful enough to find a way to conceal himself in the Knowles' line…Waiting for William and Cicely to find each other again."

"Romance…Or, love, if you like, can never be denied…Only deferred. I believe you said that or something to the effect to me just before finishing me off." Olive smiled.


End file.
